


Saving Lives

by Scouts_Mockingbird



Series: Saving Souls AU [2]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, BMC in the eighties, F/M, Heather Chandler is a witch, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, POV Multiple, Possession, Teenaged Angst Bullshit, Veronica is still a medium, read the first one if you're confused, with ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-01-25 11:11:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12529996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scouts_Mockingbird/pseuds/Scouts_Mockingbird
Summary: Things in Sherwood, Ohio seem to have settled down for JD, Veronica, and Heather Chandler.  They defeated the evil ghost and are ready to take some time to explore their newfound abilities.  But when Betty Finn calls about trouble at her school, the trio will have to travel to find out exactly what is happening to the students of Middleborough High.





	1. The Night Before

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm so excited about this story which is why I'm posting this teaser chapter all by itself. I'm going to try to have the next chapter posted some time next week. This is a sequel to Saving Souls, and it expands the universe to include characters from Be More Chill. Get ready, because it's going to be a wild ride! Enjoy!

Jason Dean was standing over his girlfriend’s dead body.

“Is that really what I look like when I’m asleep?” Veronica’s ghost stood next to him, studying herself on the ground.

He shook his head, “No, you’re much cuter when you’re asleep,” He smiled at her, trying to cover his anxiety. No matter how often they practiced this, JD would never get used to seeing her lifeless like that.  

            Heather Chandler was playing with her hair in the mirror, occasionally glancing down at the book about witchcraft in front of her. She had been trying to create protective potions, but so far hadn’t had much success. It looked like she was giving up for tonight. “Veronica, it’s been four minutes, you should jump back in now.”

The ghost disappeared and the body on the ground groaned and sat up; Veronica had come back to life. JD crouched next to her and held her shoulders while she got her balance. Despite the many times she’d practiced this trick, coming back was always difficult. Carefully, he helped her stand up. She wrapped her arms around him, though it didn’t seem like she needed his help staying up.

He leaned down and kissed her; glad she was alive again. She hummed and stood on her toes to get closer.

“You two are disgusting.”

JD ignored Heather and held Veronica tighter. Four minutes was the longest she’d ever stayed out of her body as far as they knew, and they were still trying to figure out what the limit was.

None of them enjoyed their experiments.

They had been doing this for three weeks, since JD and Veronica had been released from the hospital. They met at least once a week without the other Heathers so that they could discuss ghosts, witchcraft, and possession in peace, without being called insane by their normal friends.

Veronica went to sit on Heather’s bed, and JD followed her. She chewed on her lip contemplatively before asking, “Are we going to talk about it again?”

JD frowned, and he noticed that Heather had the same expression. She looked at Veronica, feigning ignorance, “Talk about what?”

“The same thing we talk about every time we do this: should we tell Heather and Heather the truth?”

JD understood where Veronica was coming from. It had only been three weeks since he’d become the Heather’s muscle, but it was already getting hard to hide things from the other girls.

Heather turned on Veronica and put her hands on her hips, “No. No way! They won’t believe us, and even if they did, there’s no reason to get them involved in all this.”

“What about them helping us cover up our little road trip?” Veronica suggested, “Especially if this takes more than just one weekend, we might need someone to cover for us.”

As usual, Veronica had a point, but JD was still on Heather’s side of this debate. Heather and Heather were normal, and they deserved to remain that way. Dragging them into the little ghost hunting operation they had started would ruin that forever.

Heather chose to take a slightly less diplomatic approach, “If you’re doing your job with those forged notes, Veronica, then we won’t need someone to cover for us.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. Their plan to get away with their roadtrip to visit Betty Finn involved a couple of forged notes from their history teacher and a lot of lying about who was sleeping over at whose house. Thankfully, neither the Sawyers nor the Chandlers were terribly attentive parents.

JD didn’t have to worry about that kind of thing. His dad had left shortly after JD was possessed and no one had been able to reach him since. JD had stopped trying after the third call.

“The notes are fine, according to them, we’re doing a project on the natural history of the Midwest and we need to see more of it in order to properly research.” Veronica smirked and showed off her handiwork.

“Perfecto,” JD said with a smile.

“Fucking shit, you did not just say ‘perfecto’ out loud.” Heather muttered. Though she had tried during the first few days of his employment with the Heathers to make him a little bit less abnormal, she had been met with resistance. After a couple weeks, neither his clothes, nor his manner of speaking had changed much at all.

He hoped someone would stab him before he started referring to things as being ‘so very’.

Heather glared for a little longer, but seemed to decide it wasn’t worth it to scold him. “Anyway, I’m going to bed; I need to rest before tomorrow. Meet at the car at six!” JD and Veronica filed out of Heather’s room obediently.

They didn’t return to her house. Instead they slipped quietly out of Heather’s back door and towards her pool hut.

It was basically a small, insulated shed, but the various chemicals and pool cleaning supplies had been moved or pushed against the wall to make room for JD’s mattress and a couple boxes of his stuff. As he had for the past couple weeks of staying here, he felt sheepish taking Veronica here instead of somewhere a little nicer. Or just somewhere a little more normal. At least it was private, and a lot more spacious than the supply closet at the school he’d moved out of.

If his strange living situation bothered her, she hadn’t said.

Veronica changed into one of his t-shirts and settled down on the bed, leaving room for him to come lay down beside her. “Your parents won’t be mad?” He asked, wrapping his arms around her small frame.

She smiled at him, “I told them I was sleeping over at Heather’s house, and technically, that’s still true.”

“You would make an excellent lawyer,” He whispered, before leaning down to kiss her. She kissed him back and wrapped one of her legs around his waist to pull herself even closer to him.

He cupped her face with one hand and let the other trail down her back, stopping with it resting comfortably on her ass. Flipping them so that she was laying on top of him, Veronica began to tug on the waistband of his underwear.

“Damn it, Veronica, we have to be up early tomorrow.” He tried to pull away, but he didn’t want her to stop, and she was smart enough to know that.

She sat back and he thought for a moment she was going to stop, but instead she gave him a wicked smile, “Well then we should tire ourselves out.” She slid his underwear off and lowered her head over his length.

They didn’t get much sleep that night.

The next morning, they were woken by an extremely demanding knock on the door. “Rise and shine, losers. We’re going to Middleborough, Indiana.”


	2. The Long Road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm getting this chapter out a bit earlier than I expected, YAY! It's dedicated to tumblr user Ultimatepizzaluver and also to the anonymous person, because they both sent me really fun asks and I just love talking about my writing. This chapter doesn't have any BMC characters, I promise they'll be in the next one!

 

 

“Songs that are popular get that way for a reason, people like them because they’re good!”

“Just because something is popular doesn’t automatically make it good; case and point, _you!_ ”

JD’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel and Veronica was certain Heather was about to reach up from the backseat and strangle him. Before it could come to blows, she turned the radio off. Now the collective wrath of her boyfriend and her best friend was directed at her.

JD and Heather both opened their mouths to protest but she cut them off, “We have been in this car for thirty minutes and you two have argued for every single one of them. Now, unless you can agree on something to listen to, we’re keeping the radio off. Understand?” They both nodded reluctantly.

 

The silence lasted about three minutes before Heather politely asked her to turn the radio back on. Veronica did so, setting it to some generic variety station. JD winced but didn’t argue, which was smart of him. Sleep deprived Veronica was not someone who should be messed with.

“So…” Heather said, “I think I had some luck with the protective potion.” She held out a vial of bright blue liquid.

JD looked at it suspiciously, “That looks a lot like the potion that put you into a coma.”

Heather glared, “You mean it looks like drain cleaner? It’s not the same thing. I didn’t put the same plants in it and I made it with different intent. But fine, call it drain cleaner if you want.”

“Great, we can all drink drain cleaner together and if it kills us, I get to say ‘I told you so’.” JD smiled at Heather in the rearview mirror to show that he was joking.

“You two have fun with that.” Veronica said mildly, glad that she, at least, couldn’t be possessed. Mediums were protected against that sort of thing naturally. The first thing she’d done after finding that out was to tell JD. He’d been so relieved he’d cried.

“Ronnie,” Heather said, leaning forward, “If we die because of this potion—not that that’s likely—you have to promise me something.”

Narrowing her eyes, Veronica turned to look at her friend, “Tell me what it is before I promise anything.”

“Promise you won’t turn our deaths into a lovers suicide pact or something.” Veronica noticed JD shudder, but let Heather keep talking, “Make mine something cool and spooky, but make it amazing.”

Veronica smiled, despite the dark nature of the joke, “I promise you will die as you lived; fabulously.”

She laughed and tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder, satisfied. Veronica gazed out the window at the endless fields. “This is the most boring drive ever.”

JD laughed out loud, “Ronnie, that’s the beauty of Middle America! Take in the glorious sameness.” She groaned and rolled over in her seat, trying to get comfortable enough to catch up on all the sleep she hadn’t gotten last night. She wished Heather could’ve driven so that she could use JD as a pillow in the backseat.

She managed to drift into an uneasy half-sleep, which lasted until she heard Heather ask, “Did she sleep last night?”

Veronica continued to pretend to be asleep so she could listen. “Not much. She had nightmares again.” JD’s voice was serious, and Veronica got the feeling this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

“I’ll try to see if there’s some potion she could take that will make them go away for a night.”

She heard JD’s coat shift against the seat, probably a shrug, “She wouldn’t take it. She’s pretending to be fine because the nightmares are about me.” Though she would never admit it, JD was right. She dreamed about him being possessed all the time.

It was a reoccurring dream of waking up next to him, turning over, and seeing the shadows on his face that told her he was possessed. He always smiled and reached for her, either to kiss her or kill her she never knew. She woke up before he could touch her.

“Do you have them too?” Heather asked quietly.

“Yes. Almost every night. I dream that I’m strangling her and I’m trying to let go but I can’t. I just can’t make myself let go of her. Then she’s dead on the ground and I know it’s my fault, because I couldn’t stop myself. Then I wake up. If she’s with me, I’m fine in a couple minutes, if she isn’t I can’t get back to sleep and I feel weird until I see her. I’m not okay until I know she’s safe. Until I’m sure it was just a dream.” JD’s confession surprised her. Veronica couldn’t believe that he would tell something like that to Heather, but not to her. _I guess we’re both keeping secrets._

“I’ll figure something out,” Heather said confidently, “Soon you’ll both be sleeping fine.”

Veronica fell asleep again after that and didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.

           

 

Veronica braced herself before ringing Betty’s doorbell. “Okay, guys, this is going to be weird, and it’ll be a lot for her to take in, so _please_ don’t make it worse.”

JD and Heather exchanged a glance as if they couldn’t possibly imagine what she meant, so she bit the bullet and pushed the button.

Betty pulled open the door a moment later and her eyes went wide behind her enormous glasses when she saw who was standing behind Veronica. Even when her best friend was hugging her, Veronica could feel that Betty was looking over her shoulder at her companions.

"Betty Finn, gosh, it’s been so long. How are you?” Veronica asked, trying hard to be normal, but also aware that she hadn’t used the word ‘gosh’ since the sixth grade.

“Hi, Veronica. Um, not to be rude but… is that Heather Chandler?” Heather waved with just her fingers, a tense smile on her face.

Veronica also smiled, but it was forced and awkward, “Yeah, and that’s my boyfriend, JD.”

Betty’s eyes got—if possible—even wider. “Boyfriend?” She took in the sight of JD, tall and intimidating in his trench coat. Veronica looked too, seeing him through her friend’s eyes and realizing just how much explaining she had to do.

She decided to cut right to the chase, “Betty, um, can we come in? I wanted to talk to you about Rich, that student you were telling me about on the phone.”

Betty stepped aside and led them into her well-decorated living room. They all sat down, and the silence began to stretch just a little too long.

Finally, Betty broke it, “So, how long have you two been seeing each other? I don’t remember seeing you at school, JD.”

Veronica winced; the story of how she and JD had gotten together was a little bit complicated. Technically, he hadn’t even taken her on a date until after they’d gotten out of the hospital. “Um, about a month? JD just moved to Sherwood,” Veronica explained, and wondered how she was going to get into an explanation of everything that had gone down since Betty moved away.

JD didn’t seem to be in the mood for small talk. “Betty, you told Veronica on the phone that something weird was going on with a kid at your school, what did you mean by that?”

Heather leaned in, finally engaged in what was going on. Veronica could only feel nervous. It had only been three weeks since the last possession she’d had to deal with, and she wasn’t sure she was ready for another.

Ready or not, Betty was going to tell them about it, “It’s this kid, Rich. He’s… well he’s not the nicest person ever, and he’s kind of weird, but lately he’s been acting super strange. Then, on Tuesday, right before I called you, I saw him in a spare classroom. I thought he was having a seizure; he was on the ground twitching and stuff, so I ran in to help him. He kept… saying stuff.”

Veronica looked over and saw that JD had gone into full ghost hunter mode, leaning in to hear every word Betty said. When she paused, prompted her, “What was he saying?”

Twisting her hands in her lap, Betty continued, “He was… this sounds insane but it was like he was… arguing with himself.” She paused and looked at them for a reaction, then went on, “I was shaking him, trying to snap him out of it, then he grabbed my wrist and said, ‘it’s inside me. Get it out’. I have no idea what he meant.”

“What happened next?” Heather asked.

“Nothing.” They all stared at her so Betty plowed on, “I mean, he just suddenly went back to normal, then he left the classroom like nothing had ever happened.”

Turning to JD, Veronica asked, “Do you think it’s…?”

He nodded, “It sounds like it. I mean, it could be drugs, but the way he recovered? It sounds like possession to me.”

“Possession!” Betty had apparently overheard them. _Shit._

Veronica knew it was time to finally tell her old best friend the truth, “Betty, this might come as a shock to you, but I need you to just trust me, okay?” The other girl nodded. “Ghosts are real.” Betty started to say something but Veronica silenced her with a look. “Ghosts are real and I can see them. Most people can’t, it’s kind of a special ability that I have. JD hunts evil ghosts, the kind that can possess people and try to destroy things. Three weeks ago, a ghost like that tried to destroy Westerburg and we stopped it.” Again, Betty tried to interrupt but Veronica cut her off. “It’s a really long story, but to keep it short, it tried to blow up the school so that it could take over the world, but we moved the bomb and blew up the football field instead.” Veronica paused for breath, then realized she’d left out one detail. “Oh, and Heather Chandler is a witch.”

It was when Betty made the sign of the cross over herself that Veronica knew she was in deep shit.

A long silence weighed down the room as the three stared at each other, waiting to see what Betty would do, until finally she spoke, “Okay. I’m not quite sure about all that but we can talk about it later. Right now, I need your help with Rich. If what you’re saying is all true and he’s possessed, what do we do?”

Veronica looked at JD and nodded for him to answer the question. “We need to see him to be sure, but once we do, Veronica needs to get close enough to touch him. Heather is also working on a potion to un-possess people, but it’s not done yet. We don’t have much time to lose, it sounds like the kid is fighting it, but he doesn’t have long.”

Betty knitted her brows together, “You mean he might… die?”

Veronica stood up to wrap her arms around her friend, while JD explained, “One body isn’t meant to contain two souls, they’re fighting for control, and eventually one of them will win. So yeah, his life is at stake.”

“Not to mention the lives of others, because loose spirits typically want to destroy shit and hurt people as much as possible before they go,” Heather added.

Betty started crying and Veronica did her best to contain the irritated sigh that was threatening to come out. She loved JD and Heather but sometimes they really lacked any semblance of tact.

Veronica helped Betty pull herself together before she asked, “Do you have any idea where we can find Rich?” She knew this was probably going to be a lot for her friend to take in, but JD was right about them not having much time.

Slowly, Betty nodded, “Probably the mall. That’s where everyone hangs out of weekends.”

Heather picked up her keys, “I’ll drive.”


	3. Same and Different

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings and salutations, this chapter took forever to write. Establishing stuff isn't fun and it's been easy to get distracted, plus my life is a bit crazy right now, I hope you don't mind the wait. The chapter is dedicated to guest user Mads whose comments are super sweet and supportive and it's really warmed my heart. Enjoy!

Veronica and Betty were talking quietly while Heather went to the bathroom before they all went to the mall. JD stood off to the side, pretending not to eavesdrop.

“But Veronica,” Betty was saying, “The Heathers? They were terrible to us for years, and now suddenly you’re saying they’re not that bad? And Heather is a witch?”

Veronica shrugged, “They aren’t that bad. And Heather Chandler has changed a lot over the past couple of weeks, you’ll see.”

Betty didn’t look convinced. “Can anyone change that much?” JD caught Betty’s eyes drifting towards him so he went over to look at a family picture on the wall, making sure to keep the pair in earshot. “And who is this guy? You’ve known him for a month, and just look at him.”

JD felt suddenly self-conscious; too tall and badly dressed, ill-suited to Betty’s nice normal house in her nice normal neighborhood. And her nice normal best friend.

_Veronica isn’t normal._ He reminded himself harshly. He hadn’t dragged her into his world; she’d been a part of it long before she met him. Still, he knew he’d never be able to relate to her happy childhood and easy way with people.

“He saved my life once,” Veronica said, defending him. He noticed that she didn’t mention the times he’d nearly gotten her killed. She looked up and caught him staring at her, so she lowered her voice and whispered the next part.

He would’ve given anything to know what she’d said.

Heather returned right then, so they piled into the car. Betty sat up front so she could navigate to Heather, who was driving. Veronica sat in the middle of the seat and leaned into him. He pressed a kiss into her hair, savoring the faint floral smell of her shampoo.

 

 

Middleborough was a bigger town than Sherwood, if the size of the mall was any indication. It was Saturday, which meant that the huge structure was also packed with people.

Betty moved confidently, seeming to know exactly where she wanted to go. “The popular people hang out at the food court, so that’s where Rich will be.”

They approached a strange storefront with a black sign advertising ‘spiritual remedies, magic, and enlightenment’. Heather looked at it with longing, but JD pulled her away, “Places like that are bullshit, meant to trick desperate people and lonely teenagers into spending tons of money to solve their problems with fake witchcraft. If someone like you walked in there with real power, they’d go insane.”

As they passed by, they nearly collided with a teenager who was barreling out of the store with his head ducked down. He was tall, though not quite as much as JD, and very thin with an angular face and awkward posture. Looking at him, JD got the sense that his body had not been prepared for his height, nor had it had time to get used to it.

"Jeremy?” Betty said, smiling at the newcomer, who was clutching a bag from the witchcraft store. “Hi! How are you?”

The kid—Jeremy—stared at them all for a minute, choked out something unintelligible, and fled.

Betty watched him leave with a frown, “That’s Jeremy Heere. He’s a nice kid; his best friend Michael has been really nice to me since I started going to Middleborough, so we’ve talked a few times. I don’t know what he would have wanted at that store though.” She glanced back at the storefront with apprehension.

Veronica shrugged, “I’m sure it’s not that weird to look into witchy stuff if you’re an uncool teenager looking to grab a little power.”

“Yeah, maybe he’ll use it to blackmail people into being his friend,” Heather said with a pointed glare at Veronica, who had done something similar to her at the beginning of the school year.

“Shut up, Heather.” Veronica muttered, avoiding Betty’s curious gaze. JD put a supportive hand on her back, but didn’t join in on the banter.

From the second floor balcony, they had a perfect overhead view of the hangout spot. The food court was exactly like a high school cafeteria, with each group of kids sitting at their designated tables in various parts of the large, open space. JD stared at everyone, quickly identifying the groups, and instinctively noting any that seemed like possession risks.   He had to shake himself to stop thinking about this as anything like the jobs he’d been on when he was with his father.  

Veronica caught him and gave him an odd look, narrowing her eyes in a silent question. He smiled at her in reassurance, and was glad when Betty distracted them by pointing out Rich.

He was short, but appeared strong, noticeably muscular and dressed to draw attention to it. Despite his height, the girls that surrounded him—easily identifiable as the ruling women of Middleborough— seemed engaged with him. JD found himself wondering if Rich was funny or something, because he certainly didn’t fit the popular jock mold JD had seen before.

From this distance, he couldn’t make out Rich well enough to check for the shadows across his face—a sure sign of possession. Veronica was staring at Rich intensely though, and JD knew she would get a better idea than he ever could, regardless of the distance. She was gifted in a way he never would be, despite all his experience.

He unconsciously grabbed onto the spirit glass that hung around his neck, tucked under his t-shirt. Veronica had given it to him back when this whole adventure had started; it looked like an ordinary monocle, but it gave him the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Although, in this particular instance, it wasn’t helping him much.

“There’s something odd about him, but I can’t quite say for sure that he’s possessed.” Veronica was still searching Rich’s face for any sign of abnormality, and JD could her confusion.

“What do you mean?” JD asked.

Veronica sighed and leaned over the balcony to try and get a better look, “The shadows are there, but they’re faint, like he’s only _sort of_ possessed.” She turned to look at JD, “Is that a thing? Can a person be only partially possessed?”

JD ran his fingers through his hair, thinking hard, “Not that I’ve seen, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible…” He wracked his brains for some way that what she was seeing could happen. “I guess if the soul wasn’t very strong?” He suggested, “It might be able to possess someone but not have total control. If Rich was fighting off possession, it could explain what you saw, Betty.” Her description of Rich writhing in pain and straining to get control certainly fit with JD’s memories of being possessed. The spirit that had gotten him had been powerful, though, and JD had only managed to get control for a few moments, which he’d used in an attempt to crash his motorcycle. It hadn’t worked, and in the end, he would have died without Veronica’s help.

“But that means it has control most of the time, or else why wouldn’t Rich say something, or try to get help?” Betty asked, surprising JD with her relatively easy acceptance of the supernatural.

Heather scoffed, “How would he get help? Go up to his parents and say ‘ _Gee mom and dad, I’ve been feeling kind of possessed lately, will you give me a ride to the exorcist?’_ ” Her calculating eyes were trained on the boy down below. Not for the first time, JD wondered what was going on behind her stony face. She might have been plotting a murder for all he knew.

“I need to talk to him,” Veronica said, marching towards the stairs without a second’s hesitation. JD followed behind her, aware of the weight of his gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. Though he hadn’t had to use it since Kurt and Ram, years of his father’s rules weren’t easily erased. _Rule One, Jason, never leave the house unarmed._

He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it for this endeavor; the idea of living the rest of his life without killing another person was appealing. It was also what Veronica wanted for him, and after all she’d done, he didn’t want to disappoint her.

Veronica approached the table full of teenagers with JD and the others following behind her.

Rich jumped up, “Hey, it’s the new girl!” The others halted their conversations and turned to look at Heather, Veronica, JD, and Betty.

One of the three girls ( _Why do popular girls always travel in threes?_ JD wondered) looked the group over, “And she brought more new people, who are you guys?” JD looked at the girl, a pretty blonde in a bulky yellow sweater. She reminded him a little bit of Heather M, but with more confidence and more freckles. Despite her obvious high rank in the high school social structure, she didn’t seem unfriendly.

The same could be said of the girl beside her, a brunette with fluffy hair and round green eyes, she looked them over appraisingly then smiled, “I’m Chloe, this is Brooke.” She gestured to the blonde, and then pointed at the third girl at the table, “This is Jenna.”

Heather smiled at them, “I’m Heather, and I just have to know where you got that shirt, it’s so very.”

Despite the Westerburg-specific slang, Chloe beamed, “It’s called Fable, it’s just upstairs, it’s the coolest place to shop in Middleborough.” JD caught Betty looking down at her outfit and glancing back at Chloe. It looked like wanting to be popular was something Betty and Veronica had in common.

Another guy walked up to the group carrying a large basket of fries and JD instinctively tensed. He knew what to expect from tall, good-looking, athletic types. This guy, like Kurt and Ram, and all the others before them would try to intimidate JD, who would make a poorly timed sarcastic comment that would start a fight. It was always the same.

“Who are these people? Do they go to school with us?” The newcomer asked, looking them over.

Chloe rolled her eyes, “Jake, you know Betty, she’s the new girl, she’s in the play with us. These are her friends, Heather and um… sorry, I don’t think I caught your names.”

Veronica glanced over at him with a smile, just barely mouthing ‘didn’t throw them’ before she replied, “I’m Veronica, this is JD. Betty’s been my friend since forever, we’re just dropping by to visit her.” Her tone was pleasant, but JD could see her eyes flicking to Rich constantly. He was hanging away from the group and eyeing them warily. Now that he was closer, JD could see the shadows on his face, fainter than the ones Veronica had described to him, but still evident.

Rich was possessed by something.

Well, time to get to work then. Unfortunately, this was too public of a location for Veronica to fix him right now.   They would need to find a way to get Rich alone, but he was looking at Betty with suspicion, as if he realized she might be onto him. That would make this more difficult.

Jake looked embarrassed and muttered, “Yeah, I know who Betty is, I meant the others. Jesus.” He turned to Rich, “Come over here, man, I thought you said you wanted fries?”

Rich walked over, but kept a careful distance between himself and the Westerburg students. The shadows on his face made JD uncomfortable, but the Middleborough students were completely unaware.

Now that the fries were delivered, Jake focused on Betty, “Hey Betty, how have you been? I haven’t seen you out much.”

Flustered, Betty looked at Veronica as if to ask what she should say, and her shy smile gave away how unused to attention she was. “Oh, um, yeah I haven’t gone out much since I moved here.”

“Well that has to change,” Jake said with a charming smile, “Tell you what, I’m having a big Halloween party next weekend, you have to come. You can bring your friends if you want.”

JD groaned inwardly, the absolute last thing he wanted was to get roped into a kegger with a bunch of strangers. But he knew loose spirits, and anywhere there were crowds of people was an opportunity to cause some chaos. This might be their best chance to save Rich, even if it meant waiting a week.

“She would love that!” Heather said when it took Betty just a second too long to reply. JD wondered if she realized it was a good chance to save rich, or just a good way to improve Betty’s social status. With Heather, you could never really tell.

Jake smiled again, “Sweet!” JD had to admit that his enthusiasm seemed genuine, but he still wasn’t ready to say that he’d misjudged Jake. He’d seen—and been punched by— too many guys like him to be trusting.

There was an awkward break in conversation as everyone realized they should be talking, but no one had anything much to say.

Distraction arrived in the form of the skinny kid from earlier. He had been standing in the center of the food court, but as JD watched, some kind of cloud surrounded him, and he dropped to the ground, screaming in agony.

“Jeremy!” Betty called, moving to help him but Veronica seized her arm and yanked her back.

“Stay away from him, Betty.” Her jaw was clenched and her eyes were panicked. It took JD a moment to piece together what he was watching. The cloud. The pain Jeremy was in.

The same thing had happened to him.

He and Heather figured it out at the same time, and they reacted at the same time as well, “Oh, fuck.”


	4. New Kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's two thirty and I can't sleep so I finished this! I got so many kind comments on here and on tumblr that I really can't pick anyone to dedicate this to. I love you all and I'm so grateful to everyone who reads this and everything else I've written. The BMC kids finally make an appearance here, Enjoy!

Veronica was staring in horror as the spirit surrounded and suffocated the screaming teenager on the ground. Voices hovered around her ears as everyone watched Jeremy writhe on the ground.

“Dude, the freak’s freaking out!”

“What’s wrong with him?”

 “Should we go help him?”

“Jeremy?!”

The last, horrified cry had come from Betty, who was trying to pull her arm out of Veronica’s grip. She didn’t let go. Veronica hated that she couldn’t help Jeremy, but it was too risky with so many people around; the very least she could do was to protect her best friend.

Just as abruptly as it had begun, Jeremy’s screaming ended. The silence echoed throughout the food court.

It was broken by another teenager in a red sweatshirt that Veronica hadn’t noticed, “Jeremy? Are you okay?”

When Jeremy looked up, Veronica saw the shadows coating his face like an oil slick, thick and disgusting. A smile slid onto his face when he looked at the other kid, “Michael…” He said the name as if tasting it for the first time. “Yeah, _buddy,_ I’m fine.”

Chills ran down Veronica’s spine as she heard the words. She didn’t know Jeremy, and had only interacted with him for a few seconds, but the shocking difference in him was perfectly clear. He stood tall, stared directly into the eyes of all the spectators, and his voice was clear and confident. All awkwardness and anxiety had virtually disappeared.

The kid in the red sweatshirt looked as surprised as she felt, and he took a step back to stare more intently at his friend. “Jeremy, what is going on with you?”

Jeremy rolled his eyes then turned away, brushing off his friend’s concern.” He wandered casually over to where everyone was watching him and stole some of the fries.

He zeroed in on Brooke and his lips tilted up into a confident half-smile, “Hey, Brooke, you’re looking pretty good.”

Brooke blushed and played with her hair smiling up at him, “Oh, well thank you, Jeremy.” She giggled a little and Veronica had the strong urge to charge over there and exorcise Jeremy in front of everyone.

JD tapped her shoulder and leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Let’s get out of here, we need to make a plan.”

Veronica nodded and gestured for Heather to follow them, dragging Betty along with her.

No one noticed them leaving, they were all fixated on and fascinated by the newly confident Jeremy.

 

They returned to Betty’s house and sprawled out across her bedroom floor.

“So Jeremy is possessed now too?” Betty asked forlornly.

Veronica put her arm around her friend’s shoulders, “Well, yes, he is, but he’ll be okay. We know what we’re doing.” Her voice sounded false to her, but Betty didn’t seem to notice. She leaned in closer to Veronica and rested her head on her shoulder.

JD cleared his throat quietly, “Betty, I know this is hard, but I need to ask you some stuff about Rich and Jeremy.” Veronica knew JD was got uncomfortable when other people were being emotional, and she appreciated his attempt at tact, even if it wasn’t super successful.

Betty nodded, “I only met him a few weeks ago, but we’re in the school play together, he’s nice—awkward and strange sometimes—but nice.”

A deep frown had carved itself onto JD’s face, “So he wasn’t angry about anything? Did he talk about feeling rage or—“

“Rage?” Betty almost laughed, “Jeremy? No, of course not. He got picked on by Rich and Jake, and I could tell that bothered him, but he was never angry about it.”

JD glanced at Veronica with a skeptical expression, and she understood his confusion. Most of the time, spirits possessed people who were already angry so they could feed off of the negative energy.   Though they never discussed it, it had been true for JD when he was possessed.

Veronica took over the interview before JD could bring up rage again. If Jeremy had had any, Betty clearly didn’t know about it. “Was he lonely a lot? Did he have any friends?”

Betty pulled away so she could give Veronica an incredulous look, “Of course he has friends! He has Michael—remember the kid with the red sweatshirt at the mall? That’s Michael.” Veronica recalled the dark haired boy who’d tried to assist Jeremy, but been blown off. “They kind of remind me of me and you, Veronica, they’ve known each other forever and they do everything together.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Heather chimed in, “He’s not angry, he has friends, he’s just some normal, awkward loser. The worst thing that’s ever happened to him is being called gay in the hallways. Why is he possessed? It doesn’t add up.” Heather’s frustration was evident and understandable. Veronica was confused too.

“There has to be something else at play here,” JD said, standing up to pace. “Possessions aren’t random, they’re always planned. Hell, I don’t even think happy, well-adjusted people can be possessed. God, I wish I could ask…” JD trailed off, and Veronica finished his sentence inside her head: my dad. JD’s dad had over twenty years of experience hunting ghosts and he would probably at least give them a hint of where to start.

Heather sighed in frustration, tossing her long hair, “Does it matter what else is going on? Shouldn’t we just have Veronica rip the bad ghost out and then be on our way?”

JD didn’t even pause his frantic pacing, “It matters if there’s some kind of conspiracy, like last time. So far we have two teenagers possessed and there could be more. We need to know what’s going on for sure.”

“I don’t.” Heather insisted, “I say we just go in and—“

“And do exactly what my dad did when he blew up the hotel? He got tricked by a spirit into blowing up one of the wards, now Sherwood is half as protected as it used to be. If we rush into this we could do the same amount of damage or worse!”

Veronica stood up and grabbed JD’s arm, halting him in his tracks. She loved him, but sometimes his intensity scared her a little. “JD, we’ll figure it out. We won’t rush into anything.” She reached up and pushed his hair out of his eyes, “It’s okay.”

JD swallowed hard and nodded, pulling her into a hug. She could feel his body relaxing as he held her. “I love you,” He whispered into her hair.

She smiled up at him, “Love you too.” She pulled away just in time to catch an alarmed-looking Betty mouth _Love?_ to Heather. She would have a lot of explaining to do later.

Veronica returned her attention the whole group, now that JD was somewhat calm. “Okay, I think what we need to do is ask someone who might know what’s going on. Who’s up for a little séance?”

 

Talking to ghosts was hardly new territory for Veronica, but she still wasn’t used to doing it with an audience. But she couldn’t kick her friends out, and she knew Betty wanted to see it, so she sat down on the bed and tried to focus. Breathing deeply, Veronica stretched herself into the spirit realm. She didn’t leave her body entirely, just enough to call attention to herself in the otherworld.

A male ghost slipped out of the spirit world to join them in Betty’s bedroom. He seemed surprised to see not one, but three pairs of eyes trained on him. Betty was looking around, unable to see the ghost.

Veronica smiled, “Hi, I’m Veronica. If you aren’t busy, I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

“I’m a ghost.” He replied, deadpan.

Veronica paused and glanced at Heather and JD, “Um, yeah we know…”

The ghost rolled his eyes, “I’m a ghost, of course I’m not busy. What do you need?”

With a little relieved laugh, Veronica explained, “Well there’s something weird going on with a couple kids—“

“Do you mean the possessed ones?” He interrupted.

Wide eyed, Veronica nodded, “Yes, them. We’re trying to help them, but we’re not sure what’s going on.”

“Aside from being possessed?”

“Yes, obviously!” Heather snapped, fed up.

The ghost snorted, “Well, one of them isn’t possessed by a very strong spirit, we can feel him walking around, but he’s not too much of a threat to anyone except his host. The other… the other is something new.”

“Something new?” JD asked.

“We don’t really know, he only came on the scene today, but he’s bad news. I’d suggest leaving town.” Veronica was tempted to step into the spirit world so that she could properly smack the unhelpful ghost, but she held herself in check.

Through gritted teeth, she muttered, “We _aren’t_ leaving town. Do you have anything useful to tell us?”

“This is the first thing like this I’ve ever seen, it’s not common around here. I don’t know why we’d get an influx of evil all of a sudden.” The ghost gave another infuriatingly disinterested shrug.

Seeing that Veronica was about to get mad, JD stepped in, “Thanks for your help. If you come across anything else, please let us know.”

Before fading away, the ghost looked them over, “I don’t see what a group of teenagers is going to do, but good luck anyway.”

Veronica flopped down on the bed, “Ugh, ghosts can be so annoying sometimes.”

Heather and JD nodded sympathetically.

“Does anyone want to tell me what just happened?” Betty said, more than a little irritated.

All three of them remembered at the same time that Betty couldn’t see ghosts.

 

 

The conversation was just as frustrating when they repeated it to Betty, who seemed disappointed.

“I guess I thought ghosts would be cooler,” She said, playing with a loose thread on her skirt.

Heather snorted, “Trust me, being dead is the most boring thing ever.”

Betty’s eyes went wide, “How would you know?” She gasped.

“I put myself into a coma with a potion so that I wouldn’t be possessed.” Heather walked over to Betty’s closet and started flicking through her clothes, occasionally stopping to examine one item or another. “Betty, your wardrobe is dying of cancer.”

“Heather!” Veronica snapped, watching Betty’s face fall. “Jesus, why do you have to be such a megabitch?”

“It’s fine, Veronica.” Betty murmured, ducking her head and hiding in her hair.

But Veronica was not so easily calmed down, “No, it isn’t Betty. Heather, apologize.”

“Whatever, fine, I’m sorry. Happy, you spooky bitch?”

“Yes, thank you.” Veronica smiled.

JD ignored the exchange, lost in thought. It made Veronica nervous when JD was quiet, because she was intimately familiar with how dark his thoughts could be. Though she pretended to be engaging with Heather and Betty, her heart wasn’t in it, and her eyes kept flicking over to him, wishing she could read his mind.

 

 

They left the house before Betty’s mom got home from work. JD drove them to a rather seedy-looking motel where they could spend the night.

“I’m getting two rooms.” Heather said, walking up to the disinterested clerk and leaving Veronica standing next to the car with JD.

She took a deep breath and cautiously wrapped her arms around him, expecting him to pull away. He surprised her by leaning into her embrace and squeezing her tightly. “Are you okay?” She asked keeping her cheek against his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat.

JD nodded, “Yeah, sorry. Just watching that kid get possessed… It made me remember.” He shuddered, and she held on even tighter.

She craned her neck so she could look him in the eye, “I love you, okay?”

JD nodded and kissed her hair, “Thanks. That helps.” Seeing her skeptical look he leaned down and kissed her, “I’m serious, you don’t blame me for everything that happened, so maybe one day I’ll stop blaming myself.”

“Helping Jeremy and Rich will help, won’t it?”

“Why do you have to be so goddamn insightful, Ronnie?” He laughed and bent down to kiss her and she stretched up to return it enthusiastically. “It will though,” He said, sobering.

Veronica pushed his hair off his forehead, “No matter what, I’m with you. We’ll get through this, and we’ll help them.”

“I know.”

 

They fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms, and for once, they both slept peacefully, and their nightmares left them alone. 


	5. Michael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a huge part of my grad school application yesterday so I used today to finish this as a reward. I know these first few chapters haven't been great, but I promise the story will pick up!!!! This chapter is dedicated to Xanthera, I really love and appreciate all your insightful comments. Enjoy!

JD woke up early and allowed himself a couple of minutes of perfect contentment while he watched Veronica sleep. There were a lot of fucked up things in his life, but the fact that she was a part of it went a long way towards making up for it.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily fix the fucked up things that were happening right now.

His contentment ruined by thoughts of possessed teenagers, JD stood up and started pacing the cramped room. Veronica stirred and rolled over, but didn’t wake up. All of yesterday’s questions circled around in his head, chasing each other like feral cats. Granted they hadn’t been here long, but none of it made sense.

Jeremy didn’t make sense as a possession victim, Rich seemed like he wasn’t even fully possessed somehow; it was unlike anything JD had seen before. And he’d seen a lot before, with seven years of ghost hunting experience.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt arms wrap around his waist, but his brain caught up to his instincts and he realized it was Veronica.

“What are you doing up?” She asked, her voice still scratchy with sleep.

JD gripped her arms, holding tightly as she rested her cheek against his back. “Sorry, I was just thinking. Go back to sleep, Ronnie.”

She turned him around to face her, but kept her hands on his waist, “I’m awake now, tell me what you were thinking about.”

“I guess… I was kind of wishing I could ask my dad about this. He might know what’s going on.” JD looked away from Veronica, ashamed to admit it.

She brushed his hair out of his eyes, “Maybe, maybe not. If he did, I don’t think he’d be willing to help _us_ , just you. I don’t like the idea of you going into this without me.”

That pulled a smile out of him, “You’ve definitely done more to protect me than he ever did.” She stood on her toes to kiss him, and it did a little bit to calm his racing mind.

When they broke apart, he kept his arms around her, still somewhat troubled, “I don’t like not knowing though. We need to spend today figuring out what’s going on. We’ll come back next week and fix Jeremy and Rich then.” _Assuming they’re still alive._

Veronica smiled, “We might even be able to fix them today, if we get the chance.” She slid her hands up so they wrapped around the back of his neck, “maybe it won’t be as complicated as we think it’s going to be.”

“Maybe you’re right. What happened last time could’ve just made us paranoid.” JD glanced over at the clock; five thirty. “We have at least a couple hours before Heather wakes up…” As always, she knew exactly what he was thinking, so she stretched up and kissed him. He let the feel it wash over him like a drug.

This was a hell of a lot better than being numb.

 

 

She was sitting up when he woke up, her hair was a wild mess and her lips were swollen, and JD was tempted to pull her down again so they could get lost in each other one more time before returning to reality, but the look in her eyes stopped him.

Veronica brushed a couple tears away quickly, then glanced at him to see if she’d been caught. JD grabbed her hand and squeezed it, letting the concern on his face speak for itself.

“I’m fine,” She whispered, in a voice that didn’t sound fine at all. JD just kept studying her face; she would tell him when she was ready. Veronica sighed, “I dreamt about Kurt and Ram.”

He couldn’t stop his face from twisting into a disgusted scowl when he heard their names, but he kept his tone mostly neutral. “What about them?”

“The night you came to my room, when I hid in the spirit world?” _The night you pretended to hang yourself_. “They stood outside my window to taunt me, saying that you were going to kill me. Sometimes I dream that they’re standing out there asking me why I haven’t found them. They joke about doing horrible things and ask why I didn’t stop them.”

JD sat up so he could hug her, and she rested her head against his chest. “The worst part,” She continued, “Is that they keep saying ‘you made us, you made us’ over and over again, until I wake up.”

“You didn’t make them!” JD insisted, “I did. And once this is over, that will be our next job. We’ll find them and get rid of them.” Before Betty had called, they had vaguely planned to try to find Kurt and Ram’s ghosts so they wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore.

“When does it end?” Veronica asked quietly.

JD sighed; he didn’t want to tell her that for him, it wouldn’t ever end. There would always be more ghosts, more possessed teenagers, and more towns in need of help. He would be stuck doing this until it killed him.

“I don’t know, Ronnie.” Then he hugged her so she wouldn’t see the hopelessness on his face.

The phone in the room started shrieking, startling them both. It was Heather, “Let’s get going, I need breakfast. Meet me at the car in half an hour.” Then she hung up without waiting for a reply.

Veronica gave him a wry smile, “She’s not a morning person.”

“I’ve gathered that.”

They both started getting ready, occasionally bumping into each other in the cramped room. JD went to the bathroom and returned to find Veronica digging through his bag, “Are you looking for clothes or weapons?” He asked casually picking up his shoes from beside the bed.

She pulled one of his flannels out of the bag with a flourish, “Clothes. This is mine now.”

JD laughed and shook his head, but didn’t argue as she put in on over her leggings. Sure he only owned four shirts, but that one looked a lot better on her.

 

When they got to the car, Heather took in Veronica’s outfit and glared. “Veronica, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Veronica frowned, and looked at JD for explanation, but Heather barreled on before either of them could ask. “I’ve been struggling for weeks to stop _him_ from wearing his shitty clothes, now I have to stop you too?” She huffed dramatically, “We might have to tell Heather and Heather about this, because I seriously cannot be seen hanging out with people who dress like you.”

“Heather,” Veronica said, with the dangerous calm that meant she was about to lay down the law, “There are lives at stake, we can talk about clothing choices later.” Then she climbed into the car, taking shotgun. JD grabbed the keys from Heather and drove them to the diner where Heather had told Betty to meet them.

 

Sitting over cups of coffee and plates piled with greasy eggs, bacon, and toast, the four were silent. Heather took a sip from her mug and glared at it. JD watched, intrigued, when she started digging through her purse and pulling out a couple dried flowers. She crushed them and let the powder fall into her coffee, whispering words over the odd combination. Then she downed the whole thing in one go.

Meeting the shocked and confused stares of the other people at the table Heather just said, “I did a spell to help me wake up. It’s not all crazy potions.”

JD nodded in admiration, and Veronica smiled, “Energy and intent, right?”

“Yeah, I just use the flowers to help focus my intent. Energy isn’t my problem,” Heather laughed wryly, and JD knew she was right. Her potions usually did some variation of what they were supposed to, if not always exactly the right thing.

He had learned that the hard way a couple times.

Betty smiled, “Can I try it? I could use a wake up.” Heather obligingly did the same thing over Betty’s cup, which she promptly drank. “It doesn’t taste like Satanism.”

Veronica laughed, “What does Satanism taste like?”

“I don’t know,” Betty said rolling her eyes at her friend, “Like evil or something I guess.” JD snorted at that, and Betty narrowed her eyes at him, but didn’t say anything.

JD was starting to get the feeling that Betty didn’t like him very much.

“I’m just saying,” Betty added, turning back to Heather and Veronica, “I was a little freaked out by this stuff at first—ghosts and witches and all that—but the more I think about it, it seems kinda cool.”

Heather smiled wickedly, “Trust me, it is.”

 

After breakfast, they returned to Betty’s house to tell her more about possession and ghosts. She took it fairly well, but seemed a lot more receptive to information when it was coming from Veronica.

“How long do you think Jeremy and Rich have?” Betty asked, after Veronica had explained that most people didn’t live long after being possessed.

JD answered because he had first hand experience, “The thing that has Rich isn’t like anything I’ve seen before, but I think he has more time because it wasn’t as powerful. Jeremy… he has a week at most.”

The door creaked open, just a little, and four heads turned towards it. “ My parents aren’t home!” Betty mouthed, eyes wide. JD stood and pulled the door open all the way, revealing the kid in the red sweatshirt from the mall yesterday.

“Michael?” Betty said, staring at him, “Um… we were just…” She looked at the others in a panic, waiting for someone to offer some clever lie about what they were talking about.

Michael’s face was tense and his fists were clenched, “Jeremy is in danger?”

Veronica, JD and Heather exchanged uncomfortable glances, and JD knew no one wanted to be the one to tell him what exactly was happening.

Finally, JD bit the bullet, “Yes. He’s involved in something bad. It might… it might get him killed.”

“I don’t believe you.” He glanced at Betty, who still hadn’t found her voice, then turned away. “Screw you all.”

He stormed out of the house.

“What was he doing here?” Heather asked, breaking the silence and voicing just one of many questions Michael’s appearance had inspired.

Betty sighed, “Maybe he wanted to talk about Jeremy? They’re best friends, but they don’t have a lot of other friends, except kinda me. Jeremy and I hang out at play rehearsal sometimes.”

“You hang out with _Jeremy_ when Jake clearly has a crush on you?” Heather asked, sounding vaguely offended.

Betty blushed scarlet and ducked her head, “Jake doesn’t have a crush on me!”

“None of this is relevant to the problem at hand.” JD reminded them, because he honestly wasn’t sure he would survive Heather, Veronica, and Betty talking about crushes.

Veronica nodded, “I was hoping we might be able to get Michael’s help, but it looks like that isn’t going to work.” She paused to think for a minute, then nodded as if satisfied with whatever plan she’d come up with, “Heather, I think you need to focus on that potion that forces a spirit back into the spirit world, we might be able to trick Jeremy and Rich into drinking something.”

This pulled a smile from Heather, “I can work on it. It’ll be a lot like the coma potion, the same base and everything, but I’ll have to be careful that it doesn’t push the wrong soul out.”

“And keep working on the protective potion, if you can,” JD added, “Rich and Jeremy might just be the start, and I don’t have a good way to protect that many people.” He looked over at Betty, “I’m going to make your house, and specifically your bedroom safe though, so we can keep meeting in here. Is that alright?”

Betty nodded, so he pulled the cord that held his mother’s engagement ring out from under his shirt. Focusing hard on the idea of protection, of feeling safe, he carved a protective symbol into the windowpane with the diamond on his mother’s ring.

“It worked,” Heather said, sounded slightly awed, “I could feel it.”

Veronica smiled and leaned into him when he sat back down, “Good job. Betty, you’ll be safe here. If things ever start getting bad and we aren’t here, come to this room, lock the door, and call me. We’ll come right here.”

 

 

JD felt uncomfortable leaving town with the situation so unresolved, but they had school in the morning, and for now, it seemed like things weren’t too bad. Betty promised to call Veronica every night to update her on what Jeremy was doing. It would have to be enough for now.

He pulled into a 7/11 to get gas before they left town. As he was standing there, he saw a familiar flash of red through the glass door.

“Veronica, can you finish this? I’ll be right back.”

She took over at the pump for him, rolling her eyes with an indulgent smile, “Need to get your slushie fix before we leave?”

He didn’t respond, just turned and walked across the parking lot towards the brightly lit building.

Michael was standing in the corner by the slushie machine, looking forlorn, but when he caught sight of JD, his expression darkened. “Are you following me or something?”

JD sighed, putting his hands up in surrender, “No, I just wanted to talk to you about Jeremy, and about what you heard today.”

“Leave Jeremy alone.”

Containing his frustration, JD tried again, “Look, We just want to help. Jeremy is in trouble; I bet you already know that. Tell us what you know and we’ll tell you what we know and we can help him together.”

“Oh, you want to help?” Michael was breathing hard; poorly controlled rage contorted his face, “So why were you saying he only has a week left to live?”

JD thanked God that people who worked at 7/11 never gave a shit about what was said or done in their stores, because otherwise this conversation would be drawing a lot of attention. “We aren’t sure about that, but it’s true that he’s in a lot of trouble.”

Finally hopeful, Michael looked at JD, “So he’s going to be fine?”

“I can’t promise that. Michael, to be honest, he might already be dead—“

JD didn’t realize he was about to be punched until after the blow had landed.

“What the fuck?” He shouted at Michael, pressing a hand over his eye, which would soon sport a nasty bruise.

“Stay the hell away from me. And stay the hell away from Jeremy!” Before JD had time to explain anything, Michael stormed out of the store.

 

When he got back to the car, Veronica stared at him in shock, “Oh my god, what happened?” He was holding a soda can over his eye, and he knew his face reflected the anger he felt.

“I ran into Michael in there.   He doesn’t want to help.”

“So he hit you?” Heather asked, sounding more curious than alarmed.

Clenching his jaw, JD nodded, “I didn’t handle that conversation well. Can we just get the fuck out of Indiana please?”

Wordlessly, both girls climbed into the car, this time with Heather driving, as JD couldn’t see through his swollen eye.


	6. The Solution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This chapter is dedicated to Xanthera who gave me some extremely helpful advice and single handedly got me past writers block. This month is going to be a bit wild, so I can't guarantee consistent updates on this, so if you're looking for a fix of my writing, check out my tumblr (scouts-mockingbird). I take requests and post prompts, because little short things like that are easier than a full chapter update. Next chapter is much action, I promise. Enjoy!

“Veronica, I’m telling you, he’s not acting evil! He’s just acting… I don’t know, cool or something.”

“Betty, being possessed doesn’t make you cool! Frankly, I’m a little bit worried about you spreading ghost propaganda like that.” Veronica had been listening to Betty’s updates every evening that week, and each day it had been the same; Jeremy and Rich weren’t really doing anything, aside from acting like typical popular assholes. She sent JD an irritated look and he shrugged, watching her from the chair in the corner.

“I’m telling you the truth!” Betty said stubbornly, “Since Saturday, Jeremy has started dating Brooke—who’s like the second most popular girl in school—and he’s dressing differently, he hangs out with Rich and Jake. He’s been completely ignoring Michael, but that’s the only mean thing he’s done.”

Veronica heaved a sigh, flopping onto her stomach and cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder. It was Thursday night, and Heather hadn’t made much progress in developing a potion to fix possession, but she believed she’d perfected the one to prevent possession, which would come in handy. JD’s continued digging into different types of possession had yet to yield any results, except that a spirit that wasn’t particularly strong could possess someone who didn’t fight back too hard.

Their going theory was that Rich was possessed by a weak ghost. This did nothing to explain the thing that had taken over Jeremy, which was visibly powerful.

“Okay. Let me call Heather. I have an idea.”

JD looked up from the book he was reading—one of her grandmother’s diaries—and raised his eyebrows, “You have an idea?”

“I need to call Heather first, she probably won’t like it.”

The phone was picked up on the first ring, “Heather Chandler, what do you want?”

“We’re skipping school tomorrow and going to Middleborough.” Veronica hoped her tone came off as commanding as she meant it to.

She must not have succeeded though, because she could practically hear Heather rolling her eyes over the phone, “No. No way, we can’t. What about Heather and Heather? What will they think if we’re all ‘sick’ on the same day?”

JD had come to lie down next to her so he could hear Heather’s side of the conversation. “Heather, we can’t just leave Rich and Jeremy possessed. They’re suffering.” Veronica had watched his agitation grow as the week went on, to the point that he could barely stand to go to school or talk to anyone when they were there. Any attempts to soothe him had been rebuffed, though not harshly.

She understood his stress, but he also wasn’t burdened by parents who would freak out if she ran away from home for a week. If he wanted to, he could leave and most likely no one would even notice.

“What if we went for the morning, then left?” Veronica suggested, trying to find a middle ground.

Heather was quiet for a second as she thought about it, “We can leave after lunch.”

That didn’t work for JD, “That’s too late. Just an hour or two in the morning. Remember, it’s a three hour drive.”

“JD is right,” Veronica stated, making the final decision, “We’ll go in the morning and give Heather and Heather some excuse about why we won’t be there.” She hoped they could live with the compromise.

Heather griped about it, but eventually gave in, and started working on a good excuse for them to be gone.

Veronica called Betty to fill her in and to get the address of the high school, so they could observe Rich and Jeremy, and maybe finally settle this.

She had resolved to do whatever it took, including fighting both spirits in the otherworld if she had to. It would be hard, but Heather’s potion didn’t seem like an option they could count on.

If she pretended hard enough that the pressure didn’t bother her, maybe it wouldn’t.

Scrawling down the address, Veronica hung up the phone and turned to JD, “It’s settled. We’re going to school in the morning, then driving to Middleborough. If we can’t settle things in the school, then we finish this at Jake’s party tomorrow night. Can you live with that?”

JD nodded slowly, “Can we finish it at school so I don’t have to go to the party?”

It was a huge relief that he was back to making jokes. “I’m going no matter what, Betty’s kind of going with Jake and she doesn’t want to be alone. She’s not sure she trusts him yet.”

He sighed rather dramatically, “Then I have to go too, I assume? If Jake tries anything, I get to step up and start throwing punches?”

“You don’t have to, but I know you will.”

Glowering a little, he muttered, “That’s not true.”

Veronica smiled and ruffled his hair, “Sure, sure.” She knew he wasn’t capable of sitting back and ignoring someone who needed help; it was part of his problem right now.

Wrapping her arms around him, she whispered in his ear, “We’ll fix this, JD. I promise. It’s going to be fine.”

He nodded into her hair, “I know.”

 

 

“So let me get this straight,” Heather Duke said, suspicion oozing out of her tone, “You’re leaving school after second period because Veronica has a doctors appointment, and she needs _both_ of you to be there?”

“Yeah,” Chandler replied cheerfully, “For moral support.”

“Are you okay, Veronica? Why didn’t you tell us you were sick?” McNamara was a naturally trusting person, and didn’t seem inclined to disbelieve their odd story.

Veronica really didn’t know how to make the story any more convincing without lying about having cancer or something. Thankfully the bell rang, and they all had to go separate ways, saving them from their friends’ questions.

 

They met in the parking lot after class, carrying backpacks they had all stuffed with spare clothing and—in Heather and Veronica’s case—a Halloween costume.

The drive was quiet and tense, each person was lost in thought, and no one made any attempt to start a conversation. Despite this, three hours passed relatively quickly, and they pulled off on the Middleborough exit.

“Where are we going from here Ronnie?” JD asked, glancing over at her.

Veronica hastily searched her pockets for the scrap of paper that had the high school address on it, but couldn’t find it. “Shit. I think I forgot the address. Let’s just drive and see if we find it, it’s not a big town.”

It took a while, but eventually they managed to track down the school without needing to ask for directions. They pulled into a parking space and snuck inside. Thankfully, three sheepish-looking teenagers didn’t look too out of place walking into a high school in the afternoon.

The group hid in an empty classroom until the bell rang. Veronica sat down on a desk next to JD. “Are you doing okay?” Her constant questioning was probably getting annoying to him, but he would just have to get over it. When you’ve nearly watched someone blow themself up, you’re allowed to ask about their mental state as much as you want.

He smiled up at her, though it lacked his usual humor, “I’m better now that I’m here. Now that we’re doing something.”

Heather was over in the corner, whispering furiously over a bunch of plants but she looked up to say, “I don’t know about you, but I’ve been doing stuff every night this week. I swear I’m making progress on this.” She returned to her work, chewing her bottom lip in concentration.

Veronica brought her attention back to JD, “We’re going to finish this. Today. Jeremy and Rich have no idea what I can do, they’ll never see it coming.”

Her determination pulled a real smile from him. For a second, it seemed like things would go back to normal; for a second, Veronica really believed she could banish two spirits at once, or right in a row.

Never mind that doing just one had nearly killed her.

But that was last time. Last time, she’d never even tried to banish a spirit before, and she’d only left her body completely once. This was different. Veronica had been practicing leaving her body for three weeks, and she felt stronger, more confident now than she had when she’d expelled the thing possessing JD.

This time _would_ be easier.

            She repeated the words to herself as if they had the power of one of Heather’s spells. As if saying it would make it true.

            “UGH!” Heather cried, scooting away from her plants in disgust. She had added them to a bowl of something, and the whole mixture had turned a sickly shade of yellow-green.

            “I take it that wasn’t supposed to happen?” JD asked mildly. Heather’s adventures in witchcraft never fazed him, and Veronica wondered if his mother had gone through similar things. She didn’t ask him; his mother was still a topic he had difficulty discussing.

            Heather groaned again, “No. It’s supposed to change color—that’s how I know I did something—but I was trying to make it something more pleasant. Usually they turn out blue, like the coma juice and the drain cleaner.”

            “Drain cleaner?” Veronica asked, sensing it was some kind of joke between the two of them. It seemed in poor taste considering the way they’d staged Heather’s ‘suicide’ last month, but at least Heather was in on it.

            JD snorted, “That’s what Heather and I are calling the protective potion that keeps people from getting possessed.”

            “Right,” Veronica nodded, remembering, “You were babbling about that in the car last week.”

            Heather dumped the bowl in the trash, and Veronica caught the barest trace of the defeated look on her face. Heather seemed endlessly confident, but Veronica knew there were several cracks in her armor, especially as far as her witchcraft was concerned. “So the fact that it wasn’t the right color means it definitely wasn’t made right?” Veronica asked, hopeful that maybe Heather was just being inordinately picky, which wasn’t that unlikely.

            “Yeah,” Heather said glumly, “A bad color indicates that something is wrong with it. Drinking that piss would probably make you possessed.”

            Veronica noticed JD opening his mouth to question the logic of that, but the bell rang, distracting them all from Heather’s failed potion.

            The three of them dashed into the hall and got swept up in the crowd. They received a few strange looks— students tend to be more aware of those that didn’t belong than teachers did— but other than that, there weren’t any incidents.

            Veronica spotted Michael’s distinctive sweatshirt in the crowd, and considered trying to smooth out the damage JD had done last week, but decided against it. Betty had told them where rehearsal was, and that was where they would find Rich and Jeremy.

            Speaking of Jeremy, Veronica could spot him over the crowd, now that he was standing up straight, he was taller than she’d realized and visible above the crowd. Abandoning Heather and JD, she wove through the crush of people to catch up to him. On pure instinct, she grabbed his hand.

            The rush of feeling that flooded her was overwhelming. Even more overwhelming was the fact that they were not _her_ feelings. Veronica gripped Jeremy’s hand tighter, and began to push against the spirit she could clearly sense in him.

            All at once, she found herself on her ass in the middle of the hallway.

            JD ran forward to help her up, and the look in his eyes was murderous, but she held him back. Jeremy had pushed her away, but not before she had gathered some very valuable information.

            “That asshole,” JD muttered. He helped her up and shielded her somewhat from the crowd of laughing onlookers. “I’ll go after him,” JD offered, and Veronica could tell he had more than one motive for wanting to fight Jeremy, but she stopped him.

            “JD,” She whispered, excitement coloring her tone, “Jeremy is alive! I’m sure of it. When I grabbed him, I could feel his soul. It’s still in there, and I swear it was like Jeremy—the real Jeremy—was trying to communicate with me!” She took a deep breath in an attempt to slow herself down. “He told me how to help!”


	7. Halloween Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO! THE ACTION HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! This chapter is dedicated to Penguinpatrolerarmy and KateTGP because they're cool people. Enjoy!

JD scrawled a couple words on a scrap of paper and handed it to Heather, “Give this to Michael.”

Heather’s lips curled into a smile, “The note trick, classic.”

He followed her with his eyes as she snuck up behind Michael, whose eyes were still fixated on the door at the far end of the hall through which Jeremy had disappeared. Carefully, Heather slipped her hand through the crook in Michael’s elbow and dropped the folded note onto the books in his arms. Without jostling him at all, she pulled her arm back and rejoined Veronica and JD. They watched as Michael glanced down at his books and saw the note.

JD smiled as the other boy’s face transformed while he read and reread the hastily written note.

_He’s alive. Meet us in the parking lot._

The trio walked outside to wait by the car. For now, Betty was watching over all the people of interest at the rehearsal, allowing JD, Veronica, and Heather to make a plan. JD was making Michael a part of that plan.

He leaned against the car, watching the doors and waiting. _Any minute now…_

“What the hell happened in there?” Heather shrilled at Veronica.

She opened her mouth to reply, but JD cut her off, “Wait. Just give it another minute.” Sure enough, Michael emerged from the doors and headed straight for them.

Michael didn’t beat around the bush, “You’re sure he’s alive?”

Veronica smiled at JD, “Yes. I grabbed his hand a second ago, and I felt his soul. He’s still alive!”

“You whated his _what_ now?” Michael asked, eyes narrowing behind his glasses.

Heather groaned, “I’m a witch, she’s a medium, he’s a freak, we hunt ghosts. Any questions?” JD understood why she was bored of explaining it all. He still felt anxious talking about it, and his father’s rules about secrecy echoed threateningly in his ears.

“Many.” Michael replied, still obviously mystified, even after Heather’s thorough explanation. “But they can wait. Tell me about Jeremy.”

JD was impressed by the intensity of Michael’s feelings for Jeremy. It was easy to imagine that the pair had been friends for years and were practically brothers at this point. It took a lot to brush off the discovery of the supernatural for more information about your friend.

“Does your backpack say ‘riends’ on it?” Heather said, eyeing the beat up pack with distaste.

Michael rolled his eyes, obviously impatient, “It’s a stupid prank Rich pulled. Tell me about Jeremy!”

Veronica took pity on him, “Like Heather said, we hunt evil ghosts. Right now, one is possessing Jeremy. I have a lot of abilities; one of them is forcing ghosts out of bodies that don’t belong to them. I tried to do that to the thing that has Jeremy, but instead it was like I made contact with Jeremy himself. He’s still in there, and he’s fighting. And he told me what to do to fix this.”

It all seemed a little too convenient. “Are you sure it’s not a trap? Remember, a spirit tricked my dad into blowing up the ward. They can plan and be smart.”

“It wasn’t the spirit. I’m sure,” She looked up at him with pleading eyes, and it was enough to convince him. He trusted Veronica more than he trusted himself most days.

“Okay, it was Jeremy, what did he tell you?”

Veronica chewed on her lower lip, “Well, it wasn’t exactly talking. It was more of a feeling, a sense of his soul. It was like his soul was reaching out to mine and we were communicating that way.”

“… That sounds… Intimate,” JD remarked uncomfortably.

“Aww, look, JD is threatened!” Heather crowed.

“Shut up, Heather,” He mumbled, sounding far more defensive than he would have liked.

            Veronica rolled her eyes and ignored them both. “The spirit that took over Jeremy is bad, and it wants something… terrible. I couldn’t figure out what it was, I don’t even think Jeremy really knows, but he knows the popular kids are part of it. Some time when they’re all gathered together, they’re all going to be possessed.”

JD hated to be the skeptical one, but this was becoming a bit of a stretch. “Ronnie, are you suggesting that one ghost is trying to get a mass of people possessed? Why?”

Veronica looked both angry and embarrassed, “Yes. And I don’t know. Jeremy doesn’t know. I think he’s almost… sleeping or something while the ghost runs things. Whatever he’s doing, it’s keeping him alive.”

“Still not hearing any solutions,” Heather muttered, examining her nails with practiced nonchalance.

Veronica groaned, “The spirit is bound to him because of something Jeremy did, so to get it out of him, we need to break that bond first. Then I can do my thing and banish it for good. Heather, that’s where your potion comes in. Do whatever you have to do, but figure it out.”

Heather nodded, and JD appreciated that she was making an effort to take this seriously.

“I know what he did.” Michael said, calling their attention to him. “He asked it to come to him. He… I don’t know summoned it or something.”

They all stared, shocked, as they processed what Michael was saying. JD couldn’t believe that someone would choose to be possessed. He still had vivid, traumatic memories of how painful it had been, not to mention the oppressive discomfort of not being in control of your own body.

“Why?” The word slipped through his lips before he had a chance to think about it, and he couldn’t make himself regret the disgust in his tone.

Michael didn’t appreciate it, “He just thought it was…”

“Cool?” Heather asked scathingly.

Michael stuttered, and seemed to try to make excuses, but Heather and JD were too caught up in Jeremy’s stupidity to spare his friend’s feelings.

Veronica was kinder, of course, “I’m sure he didn’t know what would happen. The fact that he was able to do it at all, and the fact that he’s still alive despite the strength of the spirit suggests that he might have some kind of special abilities.”

            “What, like you and Heather?” Michael asked, and JD paused in his fury for a minute to be glad that Michael was smart enough to keep track of all this.

“More like me, probably,” Veronica replied.

“That’s great,” Heather observed sarcastically, “But we need to plan for this party tonight, that’s obviously where all of this is going to go down, right?”

JD suppressed his anger, “Yeah, probably. That doesn’t change anything. Make the potion to break the bond.”

“There’s one more thing,” Veronica interjected, stopping him from reiterating the plan, “Kurt and Ram are here.”

“What.”

The flat question could have come from either JD or Heather, and he didn’t really care who had actually said it.

“They’re here. I saw them through Jeremy. I got the feeling that they were some kind of minions or something. They’re going to be the next ones to take someone over.”

JD clenched his jaw, “Then let’s finish what I started.”

 

 

Nothing was ever that simple. Heather worked at her potion until it was a pale shade of greenish blue. She stored it in one of the many small glass bottles she kept on her person, muttering, “Guys, it shouldn’t be blue. I’m not sure this will work.”

JD had wondered the same thing. Based on his mother’s books, potions changed color based on the preference of the witch. A potion in the witch’s personal color—the color of her aura or something, that part went above his head— was the strongest it could be. It didn’t make a lot of sense for Heather Chandler’s potions to be turning out a color she didn’t even like that much.

“Blue worked last time,” Veronica pointed out, fixing her makeup in the mirror, “Just use it anyway, for all you know that’s actually your color, Heather.”

“Like fuck it is,” Heather glowered at Veronica, then joined her at Betty’s vanity to adjust the angle of her hat.

Heather and Veronica had chosen to go as witches. Though he generally thought the idea of dressing up was stupid, he had to admit it was pretty funny.

Betty, of course, had gone in the other direction and was wearing a floating purple dress and a crown. She had grudgingly allowed Heather to do her makeup, and even JD had to admit the effect was impressive. She still seemed nervous though, fiddling with the neckline of her dress and glaring at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. It was obvious she didn’t think he was good enough for her friend.

_You’re absolutely right, Betty._ He watched Veronica smile and laugh with Heather, saw her slip on the mask of a normal teenager and admired her ability to ignore all the shit that surrounded them. He wished it was contagious.

“Time to go! Who’s ready for a Halloween party?” Heather seemed legitimately excited, which JD tried hard not to ruin. Just because he was a paranoid mess didn’t mean he should kill their fun.

The party was every teenage horror he’d ever imagined. At least Michael— who’d already been there when they arrived— looked just as uncomfortable as JD felt. When he’d seen that JD wasn’t in costume, Michael had looked betrayed, and for a brief second, JD had almost felt bad for him. But he wasn’t here for a party. He was here to hunt ghosts.

He leaned against a counter in the kitchen, sipping a beer somebody had handed him and watching Betty attempt to flirt with an extremely drunk Jake.

“I wish we were here under different circumstances,” Veronica said, keeping her eyes on the other couple. “This might be fun if I wasn’t concerned about preventing the deaths of two teenagers.”

JD laughed, “I don’t think I would ever find it fun.” He said truthfully.

Veronica pouted, “Come on, hanging out with friends, drinking stolen beer, dancing, it’s fun!”

“Maybe I hate fun,” He teased, leaning closer to her.

“Now we both know that’s not true,” She stretched up and kissed him, and he forgot about the crowds of people pressing around them, forgot his fear and tension, forgot that there were lives on the line.

“I love you,” He whispered, keeping his forehead pressed against hers after they’d broken apart. It disrupted her hat, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“I love you too, JD.”

“Jeremy’s here!” Michael apparently did not notice that they were having a moment, and he interrupted them without apology. They left Betty with Jake and headed towards Jeremy, but were sidetracked by Rich. Michael ignored the fact that they’d stopped and continued to walk towards Jeremy. JD lost track of him.

The shadows on Rich’s face were darker than they had been before, which meant the spirit was getting stronger. I was now or never. He was holding a nearly full cup of beer, JD nodded at Heather, who pulled out the bottle of blue liquid. Whatever side effects it had could hopefully be written off as drunken antics.

“Rich, um… Great party, man!” JD tried his best to sound genuine, and keep the other guy’s attention on him so that Heather could dose his drink.

The Rich-thing smiled, “Yo, thanks, man! What are you dressed as?”

JD shot a quick glance at Veronica, who quickly replied, “Bo Diddley.”

“Dude, cool.”

Heather pulled her hand back, the bottle now half-empty and her task completed. She smiled at Rich, “You’ve barely had anything to drink, don’t you want to have fun?”

JD wanted to gag at her flirtation, but he couldn’t deny its effectiveness because Rich immediately took a large sip from his beer.

They all stood and watched him closely, waiting for the potion to take effect. Rich eyed them warily, “Do I have something on my—“ He didn’t finish the sentence before he started retching. Heather dove into the crowd to follow him, Veronica close behind her.

“Shit!” JD muttered trying to find the Jeremy before they lost track of both of them, but couldn’t spot him. The room was packed with students and it was impossible to tell which way he could have gone.

As much as he wanted to stay with Veronica, he trusted her to take care of herself and Heather. JD plunged into the crowd in search of Jeremy and Michael.

He gravitated towards the sound of loud shouting upstairs, which turned out to be Jake screaming at a closed bedroom door. JD ignored them and crept further along the hallway, sliding his hand into his pocket and grabbing the knife he kept there. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and all his well-honed instincts told him to _get out._

He ignored them, and continued to search for Jeremy.

Instead, he ran into Heather, “Rich has gone fucking insane.” She glanced over her shoulder, as if she expected him to appear behind her. “He’s tearing the house apart like he’s looking for something. Holy—Fuck me!” The door she was leaning against had burst open and one of the girls they’d met at the mall last week stepped out. She glared at them but said nothing as she headed downstairs.

JD hoped she hadn’t heard them talking about Rich. The last thing they needed was for someone to start gossiping about his odd behavior.

Heather leaned in and whispered, “The weird face things are flickering on and off, but he’s not acting normal. I’m telling you JD, something went wrong with the potion.”

“Maybe that’s just how it works,” He reassured her, looking around, “Where’s Veronica?”

“She had to deal with a situation with Betty.”

_Shit._ “Is Betty okay? Is she hurt?” JD really didn’t want to worry about one more person right now.

“Not physically.” Heather said and JD left it at that.

“Alright, what now?” The plan was falling apart, and he was desperate to get it back on track. They needed to find Jeremy. Together, they trouped back downstairs and into the churning sea of sweaty teenagers.

Jeremy was nowhere to be found, but he spotted Veronica and made a beeline for her. She was standing in the corner hugging Betty, who appeared to be crying.

“What happened?” He asked keeping himself on high alert in case something else managed to go wrong.

Veronica patted Betty’s back and spoke over her shoulder, “Jake was only flirting with her to make his ex girlfriend jealous.”

JD clenched his jaw, “That’s… bad. But I meant what happened to _Rich and Jeremy_.”

She sighed, “Jeremy left, Jake hit him when he caught him with Chloe. I’m not sure what happened to Rich, he got lost in the crowd when the fight started.” Her wide eyes were bright with anxiety, and she seemed hyperactive and twitchy. JD felt the same way, but it was almost certainly heightened for her. She was sensitive to negative feelings and evil, which seemed to be everywhere right now.

Sniffing the air, Veronica turned to him, “JD, Heather, can you smell that?”

Heather made a face, “All I smell is spilled beer and sweaty guys.”

“I don’t… Wait,” He paused and took another deep breath, “Is that… _Smoke?”_

Nodding, Veronica looked around, “Yeah, I think it is.” They all paused for a moment, trying to process what that meant for them. Then the alarms started blaring, audible even over the obnoxious music.

JD suddenly understood the purpose of fire drills in school. Everyone immediately moved to leave the building, but with so many people packed into the house, it turned into a stampede. Veronica and Heather were pushed ahead of him and he fell behind, trying to push and keep up with them. It was impossible to reach them, even as the house began to get warm and fill with smoke. The fire must have started somewhere towards the back of the house, which was lucky. Otherwise, no one would have made it out.

When JD finally stepped out into the clean night air, he was enormously relieved, the house was fully engulfed in flames at this point. As he watched the mass exodus, as everyone tried to avoid being caught at a party where arson had been committed, he noticed that there were people missing.

Not everyone had made it out. Not everyone could have.

Veronica was standing next to Heather, Betty, and Jake. She waved at him, calling him over to them. He almost took a step forward. But he could hear someone calling for help from upstairs.

She could probably guess what he was going to do. She would probably kill him for this.

But he turned away from her anyway, and plunged back into the burning house.


	8. The Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a huge freaking roller coaster. Thank you to everyone who commented on the last one, please continue to do so, it's very encouraging. Enjoy!

Veronica moved to run after him, but she was grabbed from behind. Kicking and writhing wildly, she tried to free herself. Her captor lifted her up, enduring more kicks and several loud curses as she continued to try to escape.

“JD!” She screamed his name and it tore her throat. The night air was polluted with smoke and it was all she could see and smell. Even the house—only a few yards ahead of them— was just a glowing yellow haze in front of her. She screamed his name again, and renewed her efforts to escape.

Whoever was holding her was strong, but she was determined, and she had nearly squirmed free when Heather stepped in front of her. With a tight grip on her shoulders, the taller girl held Veronica in place and hissed, “Calm down, Veronica!”

“Calm down?” Veronica snapped, fury deepening her voice, “Did you see—“

Heather rolled her eyes, “Your boyfriend is crazy and self destructive, we already knew that. All it means is that you have to be saner and smarter.”

Finally, Veronica pulled away from whoever was holding her. She used her freedom to slap Heather across the face.

“I _love_ him. And he just—“

Seemingly unperturbed by Veronica’s attack, Heather resumed her grip on Veronica’s shoulders, “I know. But you going in there won’t change anything. Just wait, he’ll be okay. What your boyfriend lacks in sanity he makes up for in sheer indestructibility.”

Heather was practically shouting to be heard. All around Veronica, teenagers were yelling at one another and in the distance, Veronica could hear sirens. It was too loud. Too stressful. But even through the confusion, she knew that Heather was right. She stopped trying to get passed her friends and fixed her eyes on the smoke obscured outline of the house, waiting.

It might have been an eternity.

It might have been a minute.

All she knew for sure that at some point, a vaguely human outline emerged from the house. It soon became clear that the outline was supporting one person and leading another, smaller figure out into the yard.

It took Veronica’s brain a moment to process the fact that he was actually okay. That it was her JD, and he was still walking, which meant he was still breathing.

Mostly. When he finally got to them, he dropped the wheezing Michael onto the grass, while the girl he’d been leading hugged Chloe. JD dropped to his knees in front of Veronica, coughing hard, eyes running.

Veronica had never been so furious at another person in her entire life, but her relief was stronger, so she crouched down and wrapped her arms around him.

She held him close while the fire blazed behind them.

 

When the fire trucks arrived Heather, Veronica, Betty, JD and Michael took it as their cue to leave. None of them wanted to be caught up in the investigation that was sure to follow. They broke free of the crowd and dashed down the sidewalk, just trying to get some distance between them and the burning house behind them. Veronica heard someone shouting behind them, possibly trying to call them back so she grabbed JD by the elbow and began to run. Just as she was realizing how impossible it would be to escape, a jeep pulled up alongside them, windows rolled down.

“Get in!” Heather Duke’s familiar voice was surprising, but welcome, and Veronica didn’t hesitate to dive into the backseat, dragging JD behind her. McNamara smiled at them from the passenger seat.

“Drive!” JD wheezed once the whole group had piled into the car. It did not have enough seating for the five of them, but no one complained as Heather threw the car in gear and took off down the road.

“How the hell did you find us?” JD asked, coughing a little.

Duke glanced at them in the rearview mirror; “You guys were acting weird so we went to Veronica’s house to see what was up. We saw the address for the school sitting on her desk and decided to check it out. Once we got here we just followed the sounds of chaos and destruction and there you were.”

JD shrugged as if to say _yeah, that’s fair._

For the first time, Duke noticed the other two people in the car, “Who are they?” She asked, gesturing to Michael and Betty.

Betty glared at her, “Heather, you’ve known me since kindergarten.”

“Right, sorry…” She glanced at McNamara who mouthed the name to her, “Betty. Who’s he, though?”

Michael waved, coughed a couple times, then finally managed to rasp, “Michael Mell, nice to meet you.”

McNamara leaned around the seat so she could look at him, “I’m Heather and that’s Heather.” The boy looked confused, but didn’t ask about the repeated name.

“Never mind introductions,” Chandler snapped, “Heather, take us to the motel on Low Street.”

 

When they pulled up, Chandler jumped out of the car. She got them two rooms again, despite the fact that their group had more than doubled in size. It didn’t matter. They all trouped into one room while Veronica braced herself for the inevitable barrage of questions.

It came moments after they’d all found seats on the beds or chairs. “What the _fuck_ is going on?” Duke asked. “I am so sick of the three of you pulling on my dick! I want to know the truth.” When no one immediately stepped forward to explain, Duke snapped, “Now!”

Veronica looked at Chandler and nodded. They were her closest friends, and it had been her decision to keep them out of the loop. The witch seemed resigned to this and took a breath, “This is going to sound insane, but bear with me, and trust me. Everything I’m telling you is true.”

Her explanation was concise, but she left out certain details. She told them that Veronica was a medium, but didn’t mention her witchcraft. The events of three weeks ago were skimmed over, with only the barest trace of elaboration. She only briefly touched on the fact that JD had been possessed.

There was a long silence while Heather and Heather processed everything they’d heard. Then Duke started laughing. It was a hysterical, mean sound and Veronica’s heart sank.

Heather continued to laugh bitterly, “I can’t believe this. This is all a bunch of fucking nonsense. I’m almost flattered that you went to this much effort for some kind of prank.”

McNamara chimed in, “Heather maybe they’re—“

“What? Maybe they’re telling the truth,” Duke snorted derisively, “No way. They’re fucking with us Heather, just like they always do.” She stood up and grabbed her discarded jacked, “Come on, Heather, let’s go. I’m done with this shit.”

She moved towards the door, but turned around to glare at JD, “I expect this kind of shit from _them,”_ She pointed at Chandler and Veronica, which stung, “But honestly, JD? I thought you above all this shit.”

With McNamara following meekly behind her, Heather yanked the motel door open.

“Wait!” Veronica cried, desperate to make them believe her somehow.

Duke narrowed her eyes, “Nothing you say could make me listen to more of this shit.” She took another step and Veronica realized there was no fixing this. 

“I killed Kurt and Ram!” JD shouted, and both Heathers stopped in their tracks.

Veronica turned to him with wide eyes but she couldn’t articulate her shock. JD had just confessed to murder, and there was no going back from that.

 It had worked though, both Heathers had turned around, and Duke had let the door swing closed. McNamara’s eyes were fearful and she was shaking. Their names always made her stressed and nervous.

“I killed them, I shot them both in the chest because they were possessed and they were going to hurt Veronica.”

Veronica grabbed JD’s hand, “And I wrote the note. Kurt had his biology notes in his pocket and I used them to forge his handwriting.”

On the other side of the room, Betty gasped. Sweet, conservative, innocent Betty would never forgive her for helping someone get away with murder, never mind dating a murderer.

“Oh my god,” Heather McNamara groaned, breathing hard as tears began to fall down her face. “I can’t believe you killed them. I’m friends with a killer.” That word settled around the room like a cold fog. Even Michael, who was sitting in the corner watching all this unfold in silence, shivered slightly.

Heather Duke eyed JD and Veronica appraisingly, then turned to McNamara, “Did Kurt and Ram hurt you?” the blond girl nodded. “Can they hurt you or anyone else ever again?” Duke asked, and McNamara reluctantly shook her head. “Then who cares how they died? I’m just glad they’re gone.”

Something in JD’s eyes shifted when he heard that. Where he had been closed off and wary before, now he was looking at Duke with warmth and gratitude. Veronica imagined that he hadn’t expected that reaction to his confession.

 Veronica turned her attention to Betty, leaving JD so she could try to undo some of the damage. Betty flinched away when Veronica tried to give her a hug.

“Betty…”

“He’s killed people, Veronica. He’s a murderer.”

Sighing deeply, Veronica nodded. “Not because he wanted to. Kurt and Ram were possessed and they wanted to kill me. He had no choice. And you knew them! They were monsters Betty, with or without the ghosts. They didn’t deserve to be saved.”

“Everyone deserves to be saved!” Betty snapped, and Veronica belatedly remembered her friend’s traditional Catholic upbringing.

Betty tugged Veronica’s sleeve, pulling her even further away from the rest of the group. Not that it did much good in the cramped motel room. The others all pretended not to listen, but Veronica could feel their attention.

Leaning in to Veronica, Betty cast a wary look in JD’s direction, “He’s dangerous Veronica.”

“He would never hurt me!” This, at least, Veronica was absolutely sure about.

Betty shook her head and turned away, “But he would hurt anyone else, and say he did it for you. I can’t believe that doesn’t bother you.” Veronica could see the tears in her friend’s eyes, but also the heavy resignation. “You’ve changed, Ronnie.”

When Veronica didn’t reply, Betty stood up, “Come on, Michael. I think we should leave.”

Michael didn’t argue, appearing overwhelmed and tired. Veronica watched them leave and tried not to cry.

“I still have some questions and stuff,” McNamara said timidly.

Duke shook her head, “It can wait. Look at them, they need some rest.” Veronica checked her reflection in the mirror, her hair was a mess, and her whole body reeked of smoke. JD looked even worse. His face was streaked with soot and he was still coughing after all the smoke he’d inhaled.

Chandler seemed to have reached the same conclusion. “Yeah. Let’s get back together to talk about it in the morning.”

JD and Veronica walked to the other room in subdued silence. JD walked directly into the bathroom and turned on the shower, and Veronica didn’t say anything to stop him.

She lay down on the bed, waiting for him to come back. There was so much she wanted to say to him. Her conversation with Betty had shaken her to her core, but not quite enough to disrupt how angry she was with him.

Every time she closed her eyes she could see him disappearing into the smoke and flames. It was something from her worst nightmares. JD consumed in fire, and her, frozen in place and unable to help him. The more she thought about it, the more angry and frightened she became. What he had done was stupid and reckless, and he had to know that it would have terrified her. It proved a deeply rooted fear she had that he didn’t care at all whether he lived or died.  

Her thoughts chased themselves around her head until she realized he’d been in the shower for nearly thirty minutes. All her fears of losing him returned in a rush, and she stood up and walked into the bathroom without knocking.

He didn’t even look up when she entered. His head was bent down, water pouring over his face and down his back. For a second, she thought he’d managed to fall asleep standing up, but then she noticed his shoulders shaking slightly. Without thinking about it, Veronica removed her clothes and joined him, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tightly.

JD bent down so he could kiss her as the warm water cascaded over them. She stretched up, pushing his wet hair out of his face and running her fingers over his jaw softly.

“Don’t misinterpret this,” She whispered, “I’m still furious with you. But God am I relieved that you’re alive.” Veronica dug her nails into JD’s back, pulling him even closer to her. Their slick skin pressed together and Veronica felt her knees wobble. JD tightened his grip on her hips, holding her up and kissing her even more fiercely.

He backed her into the wall, and despite the hot water and the steam, a shiver went up her spine. “JD…” she whispered, leaning her head against the tiled wall.

He stood over her, his large frame completely engulfing hers, “Do you want me to stop?” He asked, gazing down at her.

Wide eyed, Veronica shook her head and dragged her nails down his back simultaneously sinking her teeth into his neck. His hiss of pain was swallowed by the sound of water hitting skin.

Wherever she held him, she held too tight, when she kissed him it was too hard. He was her opposite, his hands were soft where hers were all nail, his lips gentle even as she bit them.

They ended up on the shower floor, with Veronica straddling him so he could finally be inside her.

“God, Veronica… you’re… God.” He arched into her, pulling a moan from her lips. She tilted her hips and they both cried out, heads tilted up towards the water that was still pouring over them.

Veronica pressed her lips against his throat, and she hummed in pleasure when he thrust into her again, setting a steady pace that would build them slowly towards the inevitable end.

She never wanted it to end. Right now, he was with her and he was solid under her hands and he couldn’t disappear. She wasn’t going to lose him.

"I love you,” She whispered. It pushed him over the edge, and he came hard, wrapping his arms around her and holding her as tightly as he could. She finished too, faster and quieter than his, but no less intense.

 

He carried her to the bed, despite his obvious fatigue. Veronica was glad, as having to walk the few steps to the bed without him would have been too much. She hoped that this panic would have faded by the time she woke up tomorrow.

JD settled in, resting his head on her chest. She kissed him and played with his hair, soothing him to sleep. His breathing became deep and relaxed, and she thought he was out, but he whispered, “Do you still love me? Even though you’re mad, I mean.”

Baffled, she replied, “Of course! JD, I wouldn’t be mad if I didn’t love you. I’m mad because I was scared I was going to lose you.” A couple tears leaked from her eyes and she let them fall, not bothering to brush them away. “You ran into that house and it was like the football field all over again, but this time I couldn’t stop you…” Her voice broke and she forced herself to stop talking.

JD held her just a little tighter, “I’m sorry. I heard someone calling for help; I had to go back. It wasn’t like the field, Ronnie, I promise. I wanted to come back.” He hesitated then gave her a small, sad smile, “for you.”

Veronica kissed his head, still worried but no longer angry. “Just don’t do it again. Next time we save people together, okay?”

“Okay,” His smile was wider and more genuine now, reaching his eyes, “Our love is God,” he murmured, kissing her chest.

Though she wasn’t quite sure what it meant, she smiled back at him, “Our love is God.”

 

He drifted off, finally, but Veronica stayed away to watch him dream for a little while. She had already lived through her nightmares tonight and wasn’t looking for a repeat. When she heard the knock on the door, she considered ignoring it. Getting up to answer it would wake JD, and he looked peaceful for once.

“Veronica, open the door!” Heather’s anxious voice was muffled by the door but still recognizable.

That woke JD, and he rolled off of her so they could find some clothes to throw on.

“What do you want Heather?” Veronica asked irritably after she opened the door, with JD just behind her. All three Heathers were crowded in the doorway.

Chandler looked sicker than Veronica had ever seen her, notable considering Veronica had seen Heather when she’d been in a coma. “The fire… Veronica… Betty just called. Everyone’s talking about it. They found a body.”

JD exhaled sharply, but Veronica had stopped breathing altogether. “Who?” She squeaked out, though she thought she already knew.

“Rich.”


	9. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm finally back with an update. This took a really long time to write because I've been feeling a bit down about this story. This chapter is dedicated to Blueinkedfrost and also to Xanthera. You both offered words of encouragement when I really needed them and this chapter wouldn't have happened without you. I have so much I could say about this, but instead I'll just say Enjoy!

“Rich is dead.” Veronica breathed, her mouth falling open in shock. JD didn’t have any words.

Thankfully, Heather had more to say. “Betty called. Her parents were waiting up for her after the party. Apparently everyone is talking about it. Rich started the fire, then stayed in the building while everyone else got out.” She paused, “No one knows why.”

“We do.” JD answered, balling his hand into a fist. He could see his anger, pain, and fear reflected on Heather and Veronica’s faces.

Heather Duke looked at them all, “You need to get your shit together. All three of you look like you’re about to crack under the pressure. Thank God I got here when I did.”

JD almost cracked a smile, “When did you become scary?”

“I don’t know, sometime around my best friend trying to kill herself and my other best friend almost blowing herself up.”

“That’ll do it.” Veronica sighed.

Chandler tentatively raised her hand, “I didn’t try to kill myself, it was fake, like…” She didn’t bring up Kurt and Ram, for which JD was grateful.  

Veronica stepped aside so the others could file into their small hotel room. Everyone seemed content to huddle together on the bed. JD stayed as close as he could to Veronica, and was glad that Duke took the seat next to him. He was more or less used to the Heathers but he wasn’t fond of having a lot of people in his personal space.

Duke was the first to speak, for some reason she seemed calmer than the others, but JD couldn’t tell if it was an act or not. “So… I know we have really important stuff to talk about but I still have some questions.”

“Shoot.” Veronica said. She sounded exhausted.

“So, Veronica can talk to ghosts, and JD hunts ghosts, I get how they ended up in this situation, but how did Heather get involved?” Duke snorted, “Is she secretly a demon or something.”

Despite everything, JD laughed, and smirked at Duke, “Actually, I saw Goody Chandler with the Devil.”

Duke’s jaw dropped, “No fucking way!”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Chandler asked Veronica and JD snorted, unsurprised that his reference had gone over Heather’s head.

Veronica rolled her eyes, “Heather, have you _ever_ done the reading for English? We spent like eight weeks on _The Crucible.”_

“I don’t get it either,” McNamara chimed in.

Duke was still giddy, “It means she’s a witch, Heather. Heather is a _witch_!”

“Wait, like she can cast spells and stuff?” McNamara asked, sitting up and leaning in towards Heather, as if she was about to pull out a wand and start an incantation.

But Chandler shook her head, “It’s not really like that. I’m just good with plants, and I can use them to make potions.”

“What kind of potions?” McNamara looked slightly less interested than before.

“I made one that put me into that coma, and I made this paste that healed the cuts on Veronica’s back. Oh! I can make a really good hangover cure. That’s pretty much all I’ve done successfully.” Heather looked down, and JD wondered what she was thinking about. He still believed that her potion hadn’t caused Rich’s death, but he didn’t think she agreed. JD knew it was his fault. He should have known there was someone else in the house…

“Oh my god,” He breathed, and the others halted their conversation and turned towards him, “I knew Rich was in that house.”

“JD, there’s no way you could have known.” Veronica put a comforting hand on his arm, but he shook her off.

“I heard a voice asking for help. It was definitely a guy.”

“Michael—“ Veronica suggested but he cut her off.

“Michael was in the bathroom, I think he panicked and locked himself in there when the fire started. The girl was in one of the bedrooms. If I was standing just outside of the house I wouldn’t have been able to hear either of them. But I heard someone asking for help. I went back in there because of him, and I didn’t save him.”

“You didn’t find him,” Veronica whispered soothingly, “Brooke and Michael are alive because of you. Focus on that.”

JD nodded and tried to take her advice, “Rich had all the answers though. We could have learned so much from him.”

“Maybe we still can…” Veronica looked up, eyes wide. “If Rich hasn’t moved on yet I can find him in the spirit world.”

“Veronica,” JD warned, “That’s a lot different than what you’ve done before. Looking for someone specific, someone who’s just died, that’s risky.”

She saw through him of course, “JD, I’ll be fine, I promise. It’ll only take a couple minutes. By the time you’re done explaining to Heather and Heather what I’m doing, I’ll be back.” Veronica patted his arm gently, then her face slowly went blank until her eyes slipped closed and she fell against him.

Trying to ignore the fact that she wasn’t breathing, JD laid her on the bed and looked up at the Heathers.

“She left her body so she can find Rich’s ghost. She’ll wake up soon.” It wasn’t much of an explanation. He was too worried about her to concentrate on anything else. If Chandler felt like giving them more details she could do it.

They were all staring at Veronica’s prone form with such intensity that they jumped when there was a knock on the door.

Chandler checked the peephole before opening the door. Betty stepped through into the room, took one look at Veronica, and whipped around to glare at him, “What did you do?” She pushed him out of the way, nearly shoving him off the bed while she shook Veronica and begged her to wake up. “She’s not breathing!”

“She’s fine!” JD tried to lay a hand on Betty’s shoulder to calm him down but she shook him off.

“Fine? She’s dead!” Betty shrieked, still shaking Veronica’s shoulders.

“Yes, but she’s going to wake up!” JD insisted, pulling Betty away from Veronica. He was worried she’d wake up with whiplash if Betty kept shaking her like that, though he made an effort not to use too much force. “Betty, you have to listen—“

“I don’t have to listen to anything you say!” Betty yanked her arm away from JD, nearly overbalancing.

Chandler stepped in, “He’s telling the truth, Veronica is going to wake up any minute now; she just had to step into the spirit world for a bit. She wanted to talk to Rich.”

JD hadn’t seen Michael come in, but he must have arrived with Betty. He muttered a quiet, “What the hell?” But everyone ignored him. Too focused on the drama unfolding between Heather, Betty, and JD. Even JD had all his attention on his girlfriend’s best friend, enough that he didn’t notice Veronica reentering her body.

“Wow, are you all gathered here for me?” JD and Heather both jumped and turned towards the voice. Rich had come in and was staring at the whole crowd with a pleased sort of awe, while Veronica was sitting up.

Betty flung her arms around her friend, “Oh my God! You were dead, Ronnie! I thought you were dead!” Sobs shook her body as she clung to Veronica, hanging off of her.

Veronica rubbed her friend’s back and looked over her shoulder at JD, “Didn’t someone tell you that I was going to be fine? I do that all the time.”

“She wasn’t interested in listening to me.” JD muttered. He turned to Rich, “Hey, Rich.” Then he got stuck. What did you say to someone who was dead?

The ghost waved at him, “Hey, did everyone make it out? I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Yeah, everyone is fine!” JD answered quickly.

Rich looked down at his feet, “I’m glad. And, y’know I’m also not mad about being dead. I’m just glad I’m free.”

“Yeah, I get that,” JD said, ignoring the fact that everyone except Heather and Veronica was staring at him like he’d gone insane. To Rich, he explained, “When I was possessed I would have rather been dead.”

That actually made Rich smile, “Dude, you’ve been possessed too? There’s a lot of it going around. I’m glad you didn’t die. Does that mean Jeremy might survive too?” JD could see the guilt in Rich’s eyes, “It’s my fault he’s like this, so I want to help fix it.”

Chandler was frantically digging through her bag, looking for ingredients. “JD, wait. Before he explains everything let me try something.” She continued rooting through the bag, “Saffron for clear vision, lilies and carnation oil for death. Veronica, hold on to this and think about the first time you saw a ghost. Focus on that memory.” Veronica looked confused, but took the vial without arguing. Heather then passed it to JD, “Do the same thing.”

The first ghost he’d seen had been Heather, and it had been a powerful moment. It wasn’t hard to call up the memory to add its power to Heather’s potion. She took it from him and added something else, swirling it around to mix it together.

When she took her hands away, the potion was a pale shade of pink. Heather beamed, “Everyone, close your eyes.” JD eyed her suspiciously, while the other Heathers and Michael obeyed without hesitation. Chandler did them first, wetting her finger with the potion and carefully dabbing it just below their eyes. When she got to JD, he closed his eyes. If this worked, he would never have to worry about breaking the spirit glass and losing his ability to see.

JD felt the potion work. It heated his skin and made him tear up. When he opened his eyes, nothing was dramatically different, but the others were looking at Rich with expressions that ranged from amazed to utterly horrified.

McNamara turned to Duke and whispered, “I see dead people!”

Veronica snorted, “Welcome to my life. Good work, Heather.”

“It’ll probably fade for most of them, maybe not JD though, you’ve been around Veronica too much. Actually, it might not fade for Betty either, come to think of it.”

Betty’s eyes went very wide behind her glasses, “You mean I’ll be able to see ghosts no matter what? Forever?” She glanced at Rich with unease, playing with a gold cross that she wore around her neck.

Heather shrugged, “Maybe. I don’t make the rules. Rich, now that everyone can see you, tell us why it’s your fault Jeremy is possessed.”

Before the ghost could explain anything, Michael burst out, “What the _fuck_ is going on? Okay, ghosts are real, Jeremy is possessed, and Rich is dead and also a ghost. Fine. But why can I see ghosts, why does she have the ability to make other people see ghosts. Am I high? Is that what’s happening? Somebody please tell me I’m high.” The poor kid looked near tears. JD wasn’t the best at comforting people, but he gave it his best shot.

“You aren’t high. All this is real and the world is actually a lot bigger and a lot scarier than you thought it was.” Veronica frowned at him; he was probably missing the mark for comforting. “But right now, Jeremy needs you. He needs all of us. Pull yourself together for his sake, if nothing else.”

Michael nodded and swallowed hard. JD pretended not to see the tears he brushed away. “I can do that.”

JD looked at Rich, “Go.”

“I didn’t really believe in all this stuff,” He gestured to the whole room, “Witchcraft and ghosts and spirit worlds. But I heard there was a way to ask ghosts for help. To contact spirits so they could answer your questions and help you fix your life. After freshman year, I decided I wanted to become cool. I started talking with this ghost. I know this must sound crazy, but it made my life so much better. Then, a few weeks ago, it told me I could have it with me all the time, if I did this little ceremony and invited it into our realm. It seemed so easy. Well, you know how it turned out. It told Jeremy what I did, and that he could become cool, get the girl he wanted, have everything he’d ever dreamed if he did the same ceremony for a different ghost.”

JD pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing the room were large enough to pace. “So you’re telling me that you got possessed by evil ghosts… to become _popular_?”

“More or less.” Rich replied with a shrug. “No point in getting mad at me about it. I’m dead.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Anyway,” Rich continued, “The spirit wants to start the apocalypse next week at the play. Basically, he’s going to use Jeremy to make all the students possessed so that the dead can walk the earth and the world as we know it will cease to be.”

Heather McNamara started to cry, Duke mechanically rubbed her back while staring at Rich, “We’re all going to die?” She asked, shock rendering her voice toneless.

Betty sank onto the bed and started muttering prayers. JD didn’t blame her. He kind of felt like praying, too. Veronica sat next to her friend to comfort her, but her worried eyes found JD’s. This was so much bigger than stopping one ghost from blowing up one town.

Unless they—a group of messed up, frightened teenagers— did something to stop it, the world was going to end in a week.

“Fuck.” Chandler muttered, looking angry rather than scared or sad. JD was glad, her anger gave him something to stand on. If Heather was angry, he could be angry too.

He looked around the cramped room, “Let’s get out of here, can we go somewhere with a little more room?”

All six of them stood up at once, and Betty raised her hand, “Can we go somewhere with food?”

 

 

That’s how they ended up breaking into a 7-11 at three in the morning. Betty and Heather McNamara seemed a bit scandalized, but Michael helped him do it, so JD figured it wasn’t the worst idea ever.  

“I don’t want to steal anything.” Betty insisted.

Chandler threw a couple twenties on the counter, “Go wild.”

Everyone grabbed snacks, splitting up, JD wanted to be able to pull Chandler and Veronica aside so they could discuss strategy, but Veronica disappeared into the bathroom, and Heather was making sure McNamara was holding herself together.

JD went over to them both, “Hi, Heather.” She had obviously been crying, and he was at a loss for what to say. He realized he should have made a plan before coming over here.

“I feel like I’m never going to be safe again…” McNamara whispered. “Last month I felt like the world was ending and I wanted to die. Things were finally starting to be okay again, but now the world really is ending.”

JD squeezed her thin, shaking shoulder, “The world isn’t ending. We’re going to stop it, and as for safe,” He shrugged out of his coat, “See this?” He pointed out a symbol sewn into the lining in red thread, “My mom was a powerful witch, like Heather. She sewed this into the coat as protection. You can wear it for now, if you want.”

Heather smiled shakily at him, and put the coat on. She was almost tall enough to pull it off, “Does it work?” She asked.

“I’m still alive.”

He left them so he could talk to Duke, who was wandering the aisles alone. “Are you doing alright?” She wasn’t really one to open up about her feelings, not unlike him, but she had to be just as overwhelmed as everyone else.

Heather ran her hands along the row of snacks, gazing at nothing. “It’s all so crazy, but it makes some stuff make more sense.” She looked at him and laughed a little, “Someone should write to Big Fun, I’ve got their next song. _Fucking with the Occult: Don’t Do it_.”

JD cracked a smile, “Sounds like a hit.”

The bell above the door jangled, and they all turned sharply, aware that if the police were here, they were all screwed. But it was two more teenagers.

Two possessed teenagers.

Betty spoke first, “Jake? Dustin? What’s wrong…”

“Betty, stand back!” JD snapped, “That’s not Jake.” He tried not to look at Rich’s horrified expression. Belatedly, he remembered that the two had been best friends. Seeing him like this must be terrible.

“Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?” Jake asked, and a chill ran down JD’s spine. He knew exactly who this was.

The other kid smiled, “My buddy Kurt asked you a question, you fucking psycho.”

JD hated being right.

“You know what, Ram? I think that’s the asshole that shot us!”

Smiling, JD took a step closer to them, “It sure as hell is.”

He wanted to subdue them until Veronica could come and force the spirits out. He’d seen Jake earlier that evening, most likely both boys were still alive. He just had to make sure they stayed that way, without hurting anyone else here.

Unfortunately, McNamara was standing closer to the door than he was, and they turned their attention to the already terrified girl, “Hi Heather, how are you? Did you miss us?” She cowered as they shoved Chandler out of the way and cornered her. JD ran at them, but fucked it up, and Kurt grabbed him from behind, holding him so he had to watch Heather’s anguish.

“Tell him you missed him, Heather.” Kurt hissed, and JD heard Heather whimper. He struggled to get free, but Jake was a lot stronger than he was expecting, meaning Kurt was strong too. Chandler was still on the ground, and Betty had hidden behind a counter, neither of them could help.  

McNamara was crying, pressed into the wall and terrified. She pulled the coat around her even tighter, and JD’s heart hurt. His shitty attempt at making her feel better was about to fail spectacularly.

Ram was only inches away now, feeding on her fear.

_God, Heather I’m sorry. I’m sorry!_

“AAAAHH!” He screamed and fell back, clutching his bleeding cheek. Heather McNamara was holding JD’s switchblade in her hand, a fierce look on her face, breathing hard.

JD seized the opportunity and elbowed his captor, throwing him off. A flash of blue in the corner of his eye distracted him for one moment and he felt himself smiling.

“I’m going to kill you!” Kurt’s spirit seethed, “And then I’m going to kill all of these bitches, and your stupid cunt of a girlfriend!”

“Say that again to my face!” JD shouted.

Kurt looked confused and exchanged a glance with Ram. Even in other people’s bodies, they still acted exactly the same, “We… did?”

JD smiled, “Yeah, I know. I was just saying that so she could get behind you.”

They turned to find Veronica smiling behind them. She planted one hand on each of their chests and all three crumpled to the ground.

Chandler sat up, rubbing her temple, “Did she do it?” Betty also emerged, wide eyed, from her hiding spot.

“She’s fighting two of them at once,” JD breathed, “She’s never done that before. What if she’s not strong enough? I need to help her!”

“JD, relax.” Chandler snapped. “Trust her. Give her at least five minutes to do her damn job.”

“Fine! Five minutes.”

 

He made it two.

“Fuck it!”

Diving at Heather’s bag, he rooted through it until he found the dark blue potion he was looking for. It was labeled ‘coma’. He downed it in one gulp, ignoring Chandler’s cry of “JD, wait! Don’t!”

JD choked and fell to the ground as his soul was ripped from his body.


	10. Everyone is a Moron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope everyone who celebrates it had a wonderful Thanksgiving. For those of you that don't celebrate it, I hope you had a good week. I'm so sorry this update took so long, at least it's a good chapter (and from Heather's POV!) to make up for it. Enjoy!

Heather Chandler glared at JD’s unconscious body, it was tempting to shout abuse at him for being such a complete and utter moron, but she knew there was no point. She turned her attention to Jake and Dustin’s bodies. Dustin was bleeding from the cut McNamara had given him, so Heather set to work on that first.

Once the bleeding had stopped, she dug into her supply of first aid plants and pulled out some ginger and the last of her aloe Vera. Once they were a paste in her bowl, she smeared it across the cut. Pressing two fingers against the wound she focused all her energy.

_Close. Heal. Be as you were and are meant to be._

She pictured running her fingers over smooth skin, and concentrated hard on the mental image of Dustin’s skin healing as if it had never been damaged at all. Heather could feel the rush of energy as it drifted from her fingertips, gathering strength from the paste she’d made, and into the wound. When she lifted her hand away, all that remained of the knife wound was a thin, white scar.

McNamara stared in awe, “Wow.”

Heather tried to pretend she wasn’t proud of what she’d done, “It’s not a big deal.” It was though. Healing was life magic, deeply rooted in personal strength; the fact that Heather had managed to heal a knife wound so completely was an impressive bit of witchcraft. And of course JD hadn’t even been awake to see it.

Now that Dustin was healed— though neither of them had begun to wake up— Heather turned her attention to JD and Veronica.

There wasn’t a lot she could do for Veronica, she was dead and wouldn’t start breathing until her soul had returned. JD was a different story. He was comatose, and she was tempted to try to wake him up. It wouldn’t be worth it. He would be furious at her and for all she knew he might be helping Veronica in the spirit realm right now.

Duke seemed the most worried about him. “What did he drink? Will he be alright?”

“He drank the same stuff I drank a few weeks ago.” Heather answered nonchalantly, “If he gets back into his body, he’ll be fine, just like I was.”

Betty finally joined them, leaving Michael to monitor Dustin and Jake on his own. Duke didn’t look up from poking JD’s cheek, trying to wake him. “If?”

Heather didn’t know how to answer her. She didn’t want to think about what might happen. “Fighting a loose spirit in the otherworld takes a lot of strength. Soul strength. Veronica can access her full soul strength because she’s actually dead, but JD isn’t. He’s in a coma, sort of halfway between both realms.”

“He can’t help her?” Duke asked, and McNamara started to tear up.

Heather shook her head, “Not just that, he’s at risk. If something happens to him in there he’ll never wake up.” She never would have admitted it, but the thought choked her up a little bit. She fought it back. She wouldn’t be caught dead crying over Jason “The Fucking Psychopath” Dean.

Speaking of JD being a psychopath, she needed to set some things straight with Betty.

She squared her shoulders, “Heather, Heather, I need a word with Betty, could you go over and make sure Michael isn’t about to have a fucking breakdown? Thanks.”

The other Heathers shuffled off to check on Michael, who did look like he was about to fall apart. Chandler turned to Betty.

“We need to talk.”

Her golden brown eyes went wide with poorly concealed terror, “About what?”

“Him.” Heather pointed at JD’s body. “Look, I get that you don’t like him. Hell, half the time I don’t really like him either, but he’s _not_ a bad person and he isn’t a murderer.”

“He admitted it! And I bet he would do it again.” Betty insisted, and Heather tried to interrupt her, but the other girl barreled on, “And I don’t think he’s good for Veronica. She was never like this before. She was funny, she wasn’t mean, she just wanted people to be nice to each other.”

Chandler sighed, realizing that this conversation was already far out of her depth, “Yes, he admitted it, and you’re right, he would do it again, but only if it was the only way to save one of our lives. I find that comforting, and if you’d been there for all the stuff that happened at Westerburg, you probably would too.”

She paused briefly to consider her next point. “As for not being good for her… I don’t know. He loves her, and he’d do anything for her.” She pointed at the bodies, “Look what he did to himself just because he thought she _might_ be in danger.”

Betty was looking over their bodies, a contemplative expression on her face. “I guess it is kinda romantic. I mean, he would die for her.”

Heather snorted, “Yeah, I can’t even get a guy to go down on me.” She laughed aloud at Betty’s shocked expression, and nudged her shoulder playfully, “You’ve never even gotten close to going that far, have you Betty Finn?”

Betty blushed adorably and looked away, “I French kissed a guy once, but I didn’t really like it.”

“Jeremy?” Heather asked. She had noticed a certain affection in Betty’s voice when she talked about him.

Somehow, Betty managed to blush even more, “No! I just liked Jeremy, that’s all. Nothing ever _happened.”_

“Liked?” At least Heather knew how to talk about boys; she’d spent enough time doing that with the others.

Betty looked away, playing with her shoelace, “I guess it just seems like such a little thing now. I know I cried about Jake and maybe Jeremy at the party when I was drunk, but when you think about all _this—“_ She gestured all around them, indicating the massively complicated situation they’d gotten themselves into, “It just seems dumb to be worried about whether or not a boy likes me. I mean, the world is ending.” A couple tears leaked from Betty’s eyes.

Heather pushed a strand of Betty’s hair out of her eyes, “I know they don’t seem like much right now, but if I had to pick people to save the world with, everyone on my list is in this room.”

That made Betty smile, “I trust Veronica, so I should trust her judgment on JD, but if he hurts her—“

Heather interrupted, “If he hurts her, he’d probably off himself. But in the unlikely event that their relationship does end badly, you can kill him and I’ll help hide the body.” That made Betty laugh. She had a sweet, nasal chuckle that Heather found oddly endearing. “Why didn’t we ever hang out?” Heather asked.

“Because you didn’t like me. I think you called me Dweebette, actually. And you’re a little scary.” Betty replied matter-of-factly. Heather supposed it was true; Betty’s wardrobe alone would make her ineligible for the Heathers.

“Okay then, to make up for being scary, after all this I’ll help you with your hair, your wardrobe, everything. I’ll make you beautiful, Betty Finn.”

The other girl started blushing again— a habit Heather hoped she’d soon break— and smiled at Heather. “Thanks, Heather, that might be nice.”

Heather was about to reply that _of course_ it would be nice, but Heather Duke pointed out that Jake and the other guy were starting to wake up. Michael was chewing on his lip, staring at the two guys with apprehension.

He was the first person they saw. “Dude, what happened?” Jake asked, rubbing his ribs where JD had elbowed him.

Michael looked at them in a panic, searching for something to say, finally he said, “Drugs! You both took a bunch of drugs, remember?”

It wasn’t the best lie she’d ever heard, but it could have been a lot worse. It would control the damage for the time being.

Dustin said nothing; he just looked at everyone in mild confusion. Jake nodded slowly and accepted Michael’s story, but his face fell slowly into a frown, “Is it true? Is Rich…”

Michael nodded, “I’m so sorry.”

Rich’s ghost had emerged from somewhere—Heather had lost track of him during the fight and JD’s madness— and was watching his friend recover. Heather knew better than most people what it was like to watch your friends suffer when you couldn’t do anything to help. When they couldn’t even see you.

Jake sniffled, badly hiding the fact that he was crying, and Dustin patted his shoulder awkwardly, “Hey, man, at least you still have a house!”

Dustin’s attempt at optimism was received badly. “I don’t care; I don’t need a house. I _need_ my best friend!” Jake forcefully brushed away a few stray tears, glaring at all of them as if daring them to comment. No one did. Rich sat next to him, putting one ghostly arm around Jake’s shoulders. The living boy wouldn’t even be able to feel it.

It certainly did nothing to calm his anger and resentment. She had read somewhere that it was a part of grief, but that hardly mattered.   His fury was why he’d been a target for possession. Dustin might have been angry too, but more likely he was just standing too close to Jake at the time.

She looked at the boys. She glanced at JD’s body. Then she made a decision.

“Drink this, it’ll make you feel better.” And Heather handed them the bottles of protective potion that had taken so much work. If JD had wanted one of them for himself, he shouldn’t have put himself in a coma.

Neither boy asked what the bright blue liquid was; they both downed it and handed the little bottles back to her.

Jake looked at her, “I actually do feel a little better. Thanks.” He didn’t smile, but he seemed more relaxed. She hoped that meant the anti-possession potion had worked.

“Can we go now?” Dustin asked. He did look exhausted, and if she hadn’t known better, Heather would have believed he’d just done a bunch of drugs.

Michael stood and helped the other two boys stand, “I’ll help you get home.” To the girls he said, “I’m going to check in with Jeremy’s dad tomorrow, call me if there are any updates.” All four boys shuffled out of the store, with Rich walking behind them, invisible.

The girls were silent as they watched them disappear into the dark.

The sound of coughing brought their attention to their friends’ bodies. JD was waking up violently, apparently trying to force his lungs out onto the floor of the 7/11. Veronica sat up too, looking only mildly dazed. When her eyes finally settled on JD she practically dove into his arms, holding him tightly as he hugged her back.

Wordlessly, all three Heathers and Betty looked away from the intimate scene. Whatever had happened in the spirit realm had obviously shaken both of them.

They didn’t separate, but they loosened their hold on each other so they could turn and speak to the other people in the room. Veronica answered their unasked question simply, “They’re gone.”

“Forever?” McNamara asked, “They don’t exist anymore at all?”

“That depends,” JD replied grimly, “Do you believe in Hell?”

No one answered.

Betty was the first to break the silence, “Veronica, I want you to know that I don’t hate your boyfriend.” She eyed JD for a second, but turned back to her friend, “I’m not sure I like him, but I trust your judgment.”

Veronica smiled weakly, “Thanks Betty.”

“I’m pretty fucking sure I don’t like him.” Chandler mentioned, glaring at the boy. She felt a little guilty, because he looked like shit, but that was standard for him so she pressed on. “Veronica, I can forgive you dating a freak. I can forgive you dating a murderer. But I cannot forgive you dating an _absolute fucking moron!”_

Both JD and Veronica looked taken aback by her outburst, but she didn’t even stop for breath, “Did you even think for one second that what you were doing might be dangerous? Did it cross your mind that I would have helped Veronica fight when _I_ was in a coma if I could have? No. Of course not, because you’re a goddamn fucking jackass who talks about how important it is not to rush into things, then immediately rushes right into things. You’re an idiot Jason Dean, and you’re lucky you aren’t a dead idiot.”

Heather had only just barely begun her tirade, but she lost steam when JD hung his head, contrite. “I know, Heather. Veronica and I talked about it before we came back. I took a stupid, unnecessary risk, and I’m sorry I worried you.” He glanced at Veronica, “Was that good?”

She managed a half smile, “It’ll do.”

Heather turned away before she had to watch two of her best friends make out _again,_ so she saw the tall man walk into the store and take in the scene in front of him. His cold eyes settled on the couple.

“Jason?”

JD let go of Veronica quickly; his panicked eyes found the newcomer, “Dad?”


	11. Not Partners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like this chapter, it has some good, sweet angst. I think I'll dedicate it to myself, because despite having some personal issues, I've actually been pretty productive these past few days. Enjoy!

“Jason…” Bud repeated, staring at him like he was seeing a ghost. Veronica could see a certain… warmth in his eyes, almost like relief, but she wasn’t inclined to trust it.

Nothing in the world could ever make her forget the sight of JD climbing through her window, bloody and bruised, and nothing could make her forgive the person who had done that to him.

“What are you doing here?” JD asked, separating himself from the rest of them and standing so that he was a little in front of the girls. Veronica wanted desperately to go to his side, but she didn’t want to make things worse. That beating had been a result of Bud finding out about her, after all. Still, JD was shaking, barely perceptibly, and she wished she could be supporting him.

Bud shook his head, still appearing more shocked than anything else. “I thought you were dead.”

Veronica saw JD’s jaw flex and his hands curled into fists as he repeated, “What are you doing here?”

For the barest hint of a second, Veronica thought Bud was about to try to hug JD, but he stopped before any of them could find out how that would have gone. Whatever Veronica had seen in his face a moment ago disappeared completely; his face was stony and unreadable. “There’s something going on in this town. Something bad, know anything about it?”

JD looked over his shoulder at them, Veronica tried to silently indicate that he shouldn’t tell Bud what they knew.

He didn’t receive the message. “There’s a possessed student here who’s trying to start the apocalypse.” Without waiting for this information to sink in, JD added, “I called you. After…” He paused to rake his fingers through his hair, “You didn’t answer.”

“I thought it was her,” Bud jerked a thumb at Duke, but Veronica assumed he actually meant her, “To let me know you’d… died.”

Veronica rolled her eyes, “I wouldn’t have bothered.”

“Ronnie!” JD hissed through gritted teeth as Bud glared at her.

Bud finally seemed to take in the crowd of girls standing behind JD. Two whom were very obviously wearing articles of JD’s clothing— Veronica had his flannel and Heather the coat. “Who the fuck _are_ these people?”

JD pointed at each of them in turn, “That’s Betty, that’s Heather, Heather, and Heather, and you’ve met Veronica.”

Chandler waved a little, “Actually we’ve met too, I told you to go fuck yourself.”

JD pinched the bridge of his nose. “Heather, he couldn’t see you; you were dead.”

“Oh. Right. Well the sentiment still stands!” Heather put her hand on her hip and glared, something that would have terrified any Westerburg student. JD’s dad just seemed confused, and possibly angry.

He raised an eyebrow in a skeptical expression that reminded her eerily of JD. “What are they doing here?”

“They…” JD looked back at her again, desperate. There were few things in the world that frightened her more than JD being scared. Under most circumstances, he was calm— if a bit impulsive— it took a lot to really scare him.

And nothing scared him as much as his father.

“They’re helping me.” He finally admitted, dropping his head like he’d been defeated.

Bud’s jaw tightened, “You told all of these people. Jesus fucking Christ, Jason! It’s rule fucking one!” He took a threatening step forward, and JD flinched back. But he stopped when Veronica and Heather Chandler stepped forward to stand at his side. McNamara and Duke joined them after a split second’s hesitation. Betty stood behind Chandler, cowering slightly.

Veronica grabbed her knife and held it at her side. Bud snorted when he saw it, “What are you going to do with that? You don’t look like a killer to me. I’d leave the fighting to—“

“Shut up.” Veronica snapped, “I’m a medium, death means nothing to me. Killing you would be easy.” She flipped the knife through her fingers casually, oozing false confidence she’d learned from the Heathers.

Eyes narrowed, Bud glared at her, “Who the Hell do you think you are, you little bitch?”

She raised her chin and glared back at him, pulling strength from around her and brushing her fingers against the spirit world. It was starting to be a struggle to stand upright as everything she’d done that night caught up with her. Exhausted or not, she wasn’t going to let this man hurt JD ever again.

But she didn’t have to. A squat, mean looking bald man walked in from the parking lot and took in the whole group before addressing Bud, “Who the hell—“

Bud jerked his head in JD’s direction, “That’s Jason.”

“Your old partner?” The other man asked, “Shit, you never said he was a _kid.”_

“I’m _his_ kid!” JD snapped.

“Shit! You have a kid?” Veronica didn’t miss the irritated sigh that escaped JD at the bald man’s reply. “Wait, are they all your kids?”

The loud chorus of appalled NO!’s that followed would have been funny in any other context.   At least they could all agree on something.

“They’re my friends.” JD explained, and otherwise totally ignored the newcomer. “So, yeah. I told them. They needed to know.”

Bud shook his head, “It’s too many people. It’s a mistake, Jason, you should at least be able to admit that.”

JD shook his head, “No, Dad, a mistake is blowing up a building that was providing half the protection for an entire town.”

“I had every reason to believe that building was haunted!”

“If you had listened to me for ten fucking seconds none of it would have happened!” JD was beginning to raise his voice as fury climbed into his tone. “It would have been so easy. Hey dad, guess what? My girlfriend’s a medium. Really, son? Well, we should have her look at this motel we think is haunted, she might have some insight.” He was nearly tearing his hair out in his frustration, Veronica cautiously reached for his hand but he pulled away. She stepped back a little, trying hard not to feel hurt. His dad seeing them together wouldn’t help anything, but she still wished she could help somehow.

After several deep breaths, JD looked back at Bud, “What do you know about what’s going on here?”

Bud said nothing about JD’s change of topic, in fact it calmed him down considerably, “Signs seem to indicate that something is happening here in a couple weeks.”

“It’s next week,” JD replied, “Some kid summoned a spirit and it’s using him to tear open the spirit world so that ghosts can take over all the bodies on earth and come back to life, ending civilization as we know it.”

Veronica caught sight of something that might have been respect passing through Bud’s eyes, “How’d you find that out?”

“A ghost told us,” Veronica answered, “He was possessed and we tried to fix him, so the thing possessing him killed him. Speaking of,” She turned to Heather, “Where’s Rich?”

“He left with Michael, Jake, and the other guy.” Chandler replied.

“And they’re all okay?” Veronica asked eagerly.

Heather smiled, “Perfectly fine.”

“That’s three,” JD said, smiling a little at Veronica. By the time he’d turned back to his dad it was gone. “Anyway, the point is that we have this under control, you can go.”

Bud scoffed, “I’m not leaving the goddamn apocalypse under the control of a handful of kids. From what you’ve said, this is an easy fix. Where’s the body?”

“No.” JD’s stance shifted subtly, but Veronica thought she knew what it meant. He was ready for a fight.

Bud didn’t seem to notice the change in posture; he was too fixated on JD’s flat refusal. “No? What do you mean ‘no’? Tell me where the fucking body is, Jason.”

JD took a deep breath, “No. Jeremy isn’t a body. He’s alive, and I’m not going to let you change that. He’s just a kid.”

Heather took over, “We have fought too fucking hard to let Jeremy die now.”

Bud completely ignored her, “It’s the whole world. We don’t have a choice. Someone in his position _needs_ to be killed.”

“Then why didn’t you kill me?” The room fell into an eerie silence, and the only thing they could hear was JD’s labored breaths. “You had the chance; why didn’t you?”

His words hung in the empty air and Bud’s face paled as he tried to stutter out an explanation. It took him a while. “I couldn’t just… It’s not what… You’re my partner. It wouldn’t have been right.”

JD jerked his head at the bald man, who was watching everything unfold with a look of extreme discomfort, “I thought you finally found a _better_ partner.”

Bud snorted, “Billy’s a moron. You’re my partner.”

Veronica fought back tears. She didn’t want to lose JD. More than anything, she didn’t want him to go back to the way he’d been living before he’d met her. His apathy, his anger, the fact that he was constantly at war, it was all unhealthy and he’d barely survived it. But she knew he wasn’t good at saying no to his father. He’d been willing to leave her behind for him once before, she didn’t know if that had changed.

“My girlfriend can rip your soul out, killing you instantly. Her best friend is witch with a lot more bad than good in her. Heather McNamara has never held a weapon in her life, but tonight she filleted a guy’s face. Betty is probably the only sane person I’ve ever met. And Heather Duke knows how to be calm no matter what the fuck is going on.” JD stepped back and grabbed Veronica’s hand. “I don’t need a partner, Dad. I have a team. Leave Jeremy alone. We’ve got this.”

Everyone had climbed into Heather’s Jeep before they realized they didn’t know where to go.

“Take us back to the hotel, Veronica needs to sleep.” Veronica wanted to brush off JD’s concern, but he was right. Fighting Kurt and Ram had drained her, and the confrontation with Bud afterwards hadn’t helped.   She was so tired it felt like physical pain.

Chandler shook her head. “Just take us home. I want to sleep in my own bed and I need ingredients and time to make the protective potion and to figure out a way to banish a spirit from a body. I don’t have what I need here.”

“We can’t just leave!” JD argued, “Jeremy still needs us and—“

Betty put her hand on his arm, “I can watch out for Jeremy with Michael for a few days. Just come back before the play on Friday so we can be ready before it starts.”

“Are you sure?” Veronica wasn’t sure Betty knew what she was getting into.

“I’m the only sane person here, remember? I’ll be fine.” It was the first time Betty had smiled at JD, and it warmed Veronica’s heart considerably.

He nodded. “If you see my dad around, don’t tell him that I’m not still around. Remember; your room is warded so you’re safe in there. If things go bad, get as many people as you can and call us from in there.”

“I can do that.”

They dropped Betty off and drove back to the motel for their stuff and Chandler’s car. She tossed JD the keys, “I’ll ride back with Heather and Heather.” Veronica fell asleep immediately, despite wanting to stay awake to keep JD company while he drove.

 

When she woke up, he was attempting to lift her out of the car. They were in Heather’s driveway and the sky was just beginning to get light. Veronica let him carry her into the pool shed, clinging to the front of his t-shirt. It was then that she noticed the streaks on his face, hastily wiped away but still evident.

Gently, she ran her fingers across his damp cheek, “Are you okay?”

JD rested his head in her hand, “Yeah, I’m okay. You can go back to sleep.”

She knew he was lying, but she didn’t want to force him to tell her what was going on. So, she smiled softly, “Our love is God.”

He didn’t reply.

When they made it inside, he set her down on the bed. They removed their shoes and any unnecessary or uncomfortable clothing and settled on the bed. Veronica wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest.

They lay like that in silence for a while, but Veronica couldn’t let him cry into her hair for very long without saying something. “I love you, okay? I don’t know what’s going on, but you aren’t alone. I’m here. I’m with you,” She whispered, kissing his chest.

He lifted her chin and kissed her lips, resting his hand on the back of her head. She let him lose himself in her, kissing him back hungrily. JD tugged her shirt off and bent down so he could brush his lips across her neck, her chest, her nipples. Veronica arched and sighed quietly.

But she couldn’t really enjoy herself when she knew he was still upset. “Please, JD, tell me what’s wrong.”

He continued to run his fingers absently across her skin as he explained, “Once when I was a kid I was exploring one of my dad’s sites. It was some creepy old house, and the floors were rotting. I stepped on the wrong stair and fell through it.” JD took a long breath, “That’s what it felt like, seeing him again. Except I still feel like I’m falling, and you’re the only thing that’s making it stop.” JD’s eyes were desperate and pleading.

“I love you,” She repeated, and then she kissed him. Every ounce of fear, every desperate thought, every need to protect him went into that kiss and it burned between them.

JD flipped them so he was resting on his elbows, hovering over her. After that they got lost in a desperate frenzy of tearing clothes and touching skin. Lips and hands and moans.

“I love you.”

“Yes. God, yes. I love you.”

“You’re mine.”

“I’m yours.”

Veronica loved him and he loved her, and they would savor the all the time they had left together while they prepared to save the world or die trying.


	12. The Calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is probably the longest I've written for anything. My life is kind of a nightmare right now, so it may be a few days before I can update, just to warn you. This chapter is dedicated to Xanthra and Penguinpatrolerarmy who have both offered great advice and support while I've been working on this story. Enjoy!

JD woke up with Veronica curled up in his arms, and for a long moment he just enjoyed it. But he couldn’t hold back the memories from last night. He let out a long sigh as he recalled everything he’d said to his father. It had felt amazing to finally be able to truthfully say that he didn’t need Bud, but he had probably burned the bridge to the only family he had left.

Veronica stirred and blinked up at him as she remembered where she was and what happened. Even half asleep, she watched him carefully. “Are you okay?”

She stretched and blinked the bleariness out of her eyes, and he waited for her to appear at least marginally awake before he replied. “Yeah. It’s weird, I don’t really feel anything, now that I’m thinking about it in the light of day.”

“Not knowing what you feel isn’t the same thing as feeling nothing. What happened last night was… extreme. You don’t have to know how you feel about it.”

He couldn’t formulate a proper response, so he kissed her. They allowed themselves a quiet moment, but didn’t let it last. It was already afternoon, and they had work to get done.

Veronica went home for a change of clothes, while JD snuck into the Chandler’s house for a shower. He ran into her in the hallway. “Be quick, my parents are home. I called Heather, Heather, and Veronica, we’re going to meet at Heather’s house in half an hour. Okay?”

 JD didn’t bother asking which Heather would be their host; it didn’t really matter. “Yeah, sounds good. I’ll meet you by the car.”

           

Half an hour later, they were scattered across Heather Duke’s pristine white bedroom clutching cups of coffee. They all looked like shit.

Veronica spoke up first, “So, Heather, what’s so important? I really could have used another three hours of sleep.”

“Yeah, Heather, what’s going on?” Duke chimed in.

Chandler looked more uncomfortable than JD had ever seen her. “I was digging through some of your mom’s spellbooks, JD, and I read something about a potion of safety. I think I can make it into a much stronger protective potion than the one I had before. But…” Heather pursed her lips in distaste, “I need your help.”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day; Heather Chandler asking for help.” Veronica teased, and Duke and McNamara laughed.

Chandler glared at them, “If I could do it alone, I would. But there are some ingredients that I need. We’ll have to wait until Wednesday night to brew it.”

JD frowned; he didn’t want to cut it too close, “Why wait? Can’t we do it now?”

“Agrimony needs to be harvested under the full moon to be powerful, that’s Tuesday, so we have to wait until at least then. I have everything else I need, except for your part which I’ll explain later.” Heather seemed oddly nervous about the whole thing, but JD didn’t question her, and neither did any of the others. Despite her misgivings, he knew Heather to be a pretty competent witch. He trusted her to figure this out.

“What about the potion to free Jeremy?” Veronica asked.

Heather hesitated, “That’s going to be harder. I think the best I’ll be able to do is weaken it so that you can actually do the exorcism.”

That was not what JD wanted to hear. He’d been hoping Veronica wouldn’t have to fight this spirit, which was clearly very strong. At least Heather could weaken it, which would save Veronica some energy.

Veronica nodded, “Thank you. I might need all the help I can get with this.”

“So, we meet on Tuesday at midnight to do some witchcraft?” JD said, looking around the circle. Everyone nodded.

Veronica smirked, “How very.”

 

They stayed in Heather’s room, it was spacious and none of them seemed inclined to be alone, so they sat around. McNamara, Chandler, and Veronica talked quietly while JD and Duke read. They all jumped when the phone rang.

Duke answered it and handed it over to Veronica, who listened for a minute then paused to relay the information. “It’s Betty. She said Michael went to Jeremy’s house today and his dad said he hasn’t been home in a few days.”

“Shit.” Chandler snapped.

“No, this might actually be good,” JD answered. The others all turned to him for an explanation, and Veronica held up the phone so Betty could hear him. “We know where Jeremy is going to be next week, so it doesn’t matter if we can’t find him now. This way, my dad can’t find him before then.”

McNamara frowned, “I thought you told him not to?”

JD snorted, “I can count the number of times he’s done what I told him to on a hand with no fingers. He might listen, but I think it’s good Jeremy is out of his reach anyway.”

Veronica took the phone and talked with Betty for another minute before looking up with a curious expression. She held the phone out to JD, “She wants to talk to you. Alone, apparently.”

JD crossed to the other side of the room, as far as the phone cord would allow, “What’s going on, Betty?” Veronica’s best friend had made little secret of her dislike, though she had almost seemed to warm up to him a little last night. Still, he wasn’t the type to expect an apology. He’d even thought Betty had some good points about him.

“I have a couple questions for you, if that’s okay?” Betty’s voice was timid, and he briefly thought he was about to have to interview for the position of Veronica’s boyfriend.

Laughing a little at the idea, he agreed. “Go ahead.”

“I saw that you have an engagement ring, and I want to know if you’re proposing to Veronica.” Her matter-of-fact tone didn’t give away her feelings on the idea.

JD spluttered out a response, glancing at Veronica who looked just as confused as she was amused. “That isn’t what that is, Betty. It was my mom’s, I just wear it… It’s not for that. It’s sort of like a talisman or something. To keep me safe, I guess.”

Betty’s sigh of relief was loud and immediate, “Oh good. I didn’t want to have to tell you that you’re way too young.”

“I know that! I promise the idea hadn’t even crossed my mind.” It hadn’t, but now that he thought about it, he didn’t hate the idea. One day, far in the future (assuming the world didn’t end) asking Veronica to marry him and giving her this ring. He shook the fantasy away. It was too distant of a possibility.

“What was the other question? You said you had a couple.” He was more than a little desperate to change the topic and get the image of Veronica in a wedding dress out of his head.

He heard Betty shift around on the other line before she asked, “What things count as protective symbols? You carved that one on my window, are they all like that?”

This could turn into a long explanation, so he kept it brief, “Symbols work because people believe they will. My mom taught me the symbol I put on your window, I believe that it works, so it does. Heather believes that her protective plants have that power, so they do. Does that make sense?”

There was a long pause while Betty thought about this, “So if I believe that the cross necklace my parents gave me for my confirmation will protect me, it will?”

“Exactly. Things like that, that have strong memories attached to them, are even more powerful.” He absently played with the two cords that hung around his neck, one held the aforementioned ring, and the other Veronica’s spirit glass. They had both become protective symbols in a way.

“Okay, thanks JD. I have to go now, my parents have been freaking out ever since they found out I was at that party last night.” There was a click on her end and JD returned Heather’s phone to its cradle.

Veronica looked at him curiously, “What was that about?”

“She just wanted to know about protective symbols and talismans and stuff,” He lied, having still not quite rid himself of that image of her in white.

She shrugged it off and resumed her conversation with Chandler and McNamara.

 

 

Monday and Tuesday passed as a blur for them all. It was hard to focus on schoolwork when you knew that the end was nigh. It was a relief to be able to shed the illusion of being normal seventeen year olds and head into the woods to make a potion.

Heather had built a fire in the center of a familiar clearing and set a small pot boiling on top of it. The glow illuminated her face eerily, and for the first time, JD saw the witch, rather than Heather Chandler. He believed that this girl came from a long line of women who had dedicated themselves to protecting this town. A shiver ran down his spine. There was power here.

Veronica stepped into the clearing shortly after him, and she too had the ageless appearance of someone with great power. She joined them at the fireside.

When Duke and McNamara stepped into the clearing, they immediately fell silent, sensing as JD had, the power in these woods.

Chandler spoke with confidence as she explained what they were doing. “I gathered the agrimony under the full moon, and I have mullein, blackberries, and rosemary for the actual potion. We’re boiling it in purified water to make sure there aren’t any bad things getting into it. You’re here to help me strengthen it.” She handed them all a bunch of leaves and they watched as she tossed the herbs and berries into the bubbling water. “You need to add protective strength and thoughts of safety. You’re helping me focus the intent of the potion.”

“So… what do you want us to do?” Heather McNamara asked.

“Talk about what makes you feel safe. Add that memory to the agrimony before we toss it in the fire so the smoke can become a part of the potion. The fact that we’re sharing it with each other also strengthens it.” She glanced around the circle nervously, “Does anyone want to go first?”

Heather McNamara was the first to speak. “I feel safe when I’m dancing. When my parents fight, I turn up the music and I dance. When I’m scared I dance because it feels like if I move fast enough, the scary thing can’t catch me.” She tossed her bunch of leaves into the fire and a small puff of smoke wafted into the air.

Heather Duke went next, “I feel safe when I’m reading. I get to live someone else’s life for a little while. And…” JD didn’t miss Heather’s green eyes darting to Chandler for a second. “Sometimes bad news can make you feel safe.” When her leaves hit the fire, JD could have sworn there was a faint smell of leather and dust.

“I’m not sure what to say,” Veronica whispered into the dark, nearly drowned out by the crackling fire.

Chandler reached across the fire and squeezed Veronica’s hand. “Think of a time when you felt safe. The stronger the memory the better.”

“Okay, Um, popcorn, a window that can lock out all the bad things in the world, and… caring.” She smiled at JD, blushing slightly, before throwing her leaves into the flames, for a second the clearing smelled like popcorn.

JD didn’t want to go, so he was relieved when Chandler spoke next. “I feel safe when I’m in my greenhouse, the plants in there keep me safe, and they don’t expect anything from me.” The smell of herbs didn’t surprise JD this time.

It was his turn. “When my mom was sewing the symbol into my coat, she told me the story behind it. See, there was this dragon that was protecting a treasure that people kept trying to steal. So to scare them away, the dragon burned this symbol into its forehead, and anyone who saw it ran away in terror, so the dragon and the treasure was safe. My mom said that was like us.”

“You’re mom called you a dragon?” Mac asked eagerly.

JD shook his head, smiling sadly, “No, she called herself a dragon. She called me her treasure.” When he tossed his leaves into the fire he breathed deeply. It had been seven years since he’d smelled his mother’s perfume.

Heather bent down and pressed her hand into the ground. She might have spoken, but JD didn’t catch the words. When she pulled her hand away, the flames extinguished suddenly, leaving them all standing in the dark.

“It worked.” Heather whispered.

 

 

On Friday morning they all met in the parking lot. “I don’t know if I can do this.” JD glared at the school building, which loomed over them like a castle in a horror movie.

“We have to.” Chandler was equally horrified, but determined as she looked around the group of scared, exhausted teenagers. “We have a part to play until lunch. Get to work.”

They walked in separately, allowing JD to seize a couple minutes with Veronica. They held each other in silence for a moment. When they pulled apart, there was an awkwardness between them he couldn’t understand.

“So… what did you tell your parents?” He was glad he hadn’t had to bother lying to anyone.

She shrugged, “They’re in Bermuda for the next few days with their friends. It’s actually a relief not having to lie to them.”

JD nodded and pulled her into another hug, he was pretty sure they were both pretending not to care about what was coming for the other’s sake. He kissed her one last time before they parted ways. “Our love is God.”

Veronica smiled a little bit, “Our love is God. I’ll see you at lunch.”

 

Classes dragged on. He spent all of American history passing notes with Heather McNamara who was not at all calm. She mentioned that she wasn’t very good at handling stressful situations, and for a second, JD considered telling her to stay, be he refrained. They needed all the help they could get, even if one of them was a nervous wreck.

They walked out as the lunch bell rang. Fleming approached them and demanded to see a hall pass, but Veronica held up her hand. "Sorry, Ms. Felming we don't have time. We need to save the world." And they all brushed past her striding confidently out the door. 

 

They all squeezed into Heather Duke’s car for the drive to Indiana, and they spent the whole thing in tense silence. The radio crooned insipid pop songs that leant the whole journey a surreal feeling.

They stopped at Betty’s house to pick up her and Michael, who both piled into the car. The school was slowly filling with people, all eagerly waiting to get into the auditorium. The play was about to begin.

JD grabbed his old black duffle bag out of Heather’s trunk. He’d packed it with all the weapons and supplies he’d kept, and it felt oddly comforting to have the familiar weight on his shoulder.

They were approaching the front entrance when he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. His father and Billy had shown up.

“We’re just here to help. This is your mission.” Bud insisted. JD nodded and accepted the offered handshake and the tenuous peace it represented.

“Wait!” A loud voice stopped them again before they could take another step towards the door. It was Jake, apparently fully recovered from his possession. He was out of breath when he caught up to them. “Look, I don’t know what the hell happened to me last night, but I know it wasn’t drugs. And if that had anything to do with what killed Rich, and you people have anything to do with stopping it; I want in.”

JD looked over the rapidly growing group, “Can you fight?”

Jake nodded eagerly, “Yeah, sure, why not?”

So he had definitely never been in a real fight. “Alright fine, but stay quiet and don’t do anything stupid.” The kid was too excited for JD’s taste, but he was strong and probably fast.

“Can we go now?” Chandler tapped her foot anxiously on the pavement.

Veronica shook her head, “Not if you plan to go through the front doors. Those two guys that are hanging around the doors are possessed.”

Bud leaned over to JD, “She can see that?”

Holding in an exasperated sigh, JD nodded, “Yes, so can I, thanks to her.”

Betty raised her hand, “So how are we supposed to get in?”

 

They ended up circling the building until they found a tree growing close enough to a window that they could get in if they climbed it. Of course, the window was locked.  
            Veronica smiled at JD, “I’ll take care of this.” She pulled out her knife and dug it into the window, somehow popping the lock open.

“One of these days you’ll have to tell me where and why you learned how to do that.” JD muttered as he clambered over the sill.

Veronica smiled and allowed him to help her through, “What? I can’t be mysterious?”

Chandler came next, “I can’t believe you two are flirting when the world is about to end.”

“Well, when else are we going to do it?” JD replied.

Heather Duke spoke at the same time, “You can’t honestly be surprised, Heather.”

“I’m not!” Mac added as she jumped gracefully into the classroom.

Bud seemed weary and confused by their antics as he helped Betty and Michael get inside.

“So… Have you done this before?” Michael asked, “Because you all seem way to casual about it.”

They all exchanged awkward glances, finally Veronica answered, “No, we haven’t. But we’ve seen some shit, trust me.”

“Oookay.” Michael wisely didn’t ask what she meant.

“It’s drinking time.” Chandler pulled a large bottle of pale pink liquid out of her bag. Her eyes were full of fear as she looked at it. “What if it doesn’t work? I could poison you all.”

JD snatched the bottle out of her hands and downed a big gulp without hesitation. He feigned a cough, “Shit Heather, I don’t think you poisoned me, but this stuff is way too intense for you, we’ll have to find another way.”

Heather glared, “What, you think you can use some reverse psychology shit on me? Like I’ll just drink it because you called me chicken?” JD stood expectantly for a moment before Heather snarled, “Give me the bottle, Jerk.”

She drank and her brows knit together, “That wasn’t even bad. Betty, you’re next.”

McNamara drank after Betty and handed the bottle to Duke, who passed it to Michael. After Jake had taken his sip, JD held it out to his dad, “It’s protective, it’ll keep you from getting possessed.”

“Does it work?” Bud looked skeptically at the bottle, which looked like it had once held mineral water of some kind, and was full of pink liquid.

“Yes.” Veronica answered for him, “I can see something different about you now, it’s hard to explain, but that potion definitely did something good.”

JD couldn’t see anything in the others, but Veronica was stronger than him. If she said they’d changed, he believed her.

Bud seemed to take her at her word as well, because he drank and passed the bottle to Billy who shrugged and took a sip. There were no more reasons to delay; they had a world to save.

 

The upstairs halls were quiet and empty, but as soon as they set foot on the first floor, JD dozens of people turn towards them, murder in their eyes and shadows on their faces. “Fucking run!” He shouted, grabbing the arm nearest him, and dragging its owner with him as the group took off down the hall.

His bag cut into his shoulder and Betty— whose arm he had seized— was slowing him down. He pulled her along anyway, glancing back to make sure everyone else was with him.

He looked just in time to see Veronica trip and start to fall.

Bud grabbed her before she could hit the ground and pulled her bodily to her feet, punching a random possessed person in the face when he got too close.

Shouts of “Catch them!” “Kill them!” echoed behind them as they darted down halls until JD led them through a set of doors.

The gym was blissfully empty and quiet, except for the loud and panicked breathing of his companions.

“Well that’s just fan-fucking-tastic!” Chandler gasped, “There must have been a hundred of them! How the hell are we going to get to Jeremy now?”

Veronica was looking into his eyes when she replied, “I know a way.”

“No!” JD snapped, immediately understanding what she was about to suggest. “No, Veronica absolutely not.”

She reached for his hand, “JD, it’s the only way. I can sneak around the back way and get to Jeremy if someone distracts all those things out there. We have to split up.”

“Fine, I’ll go with you—“

“No, JD. You need to be where the fighting is. I can go alone, I’ll attract less attention that way.”

“There is no way in fucking hell that I’m going to let you go alone, Veronica. I won’t,” His voice broke as he pulled her close, “I can’t.”

Veronica stroked his hair, but her voice was firm. “It’s the only way.”

“I’ll go with her.” Michael offered, “I want to be where Jeremy is, and that’s where she’s going.”

“Me too!” Jake offered, “I don’t really know you people, so I want to stay with Michael.”

That was reasonable. JD felt a little better knowing that at least two people would stand in the way of Veronica getting killed. He nodded, choking back a sob.

            “Take this.” Heather Chandler held out a smaller bottle, full of syrupy liquid. “It’s one of the strongest things I’ve ever made. It’ll weaken him if he drinks it.” It was bright red.

Veronica grabbed the bottle and nodded in silent thanks. She hugged Betty, Heather, and Heather quickly before turning back to JD. “Our love is God.”

“Our love is God.” He had to force the words out around a closing throat.

She looked at the rest of the assembled group with fury and determination in her dark eyes. “Don’t let him do anything stupid, because if he dies I’m letting the goddamn world end.” With that, she left the room, Michael and Jake trailing meekly behind.

Duke watched the door close. “When this is over, we’re having a long conversation about codependency.”


	13. The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to combine what could have been two short updates into one longer one. About Halfway through, it switches POV's, but it's pretty clear, you'll be able to figure it out. You guys are going to hate me for this chapter. Enjoy!

JD turned away from the doors, pushing Veronica as far back in his mind as he could. She had told him that he had to trust her to keep herself safe, and he had promised that he would. So he turned his attention to keeping all the others safe.

He pulled out his gun. Betty’s eyes went very wide when she saw it. “Is that real?”

“Uh, no.” He lied quickly, “These are ich luge bullets, they’re basically tranquilizers.”

Betty smiled, “So the spirit leaves the body because it thinks it’s dying when really it’s just bleeding and unconscious? Cool!”

Heather McNamara had apparently discovered something interesting in a closet on the other side of the gym and Betty went over to investigate with her and Chandler. JD was relieved to see her go.

“I’m lying bullets?” Heather Duke’s voice made his stomach twist with guilt.

“Oh, you understood that…”

Heather rolled her eyes, “I’m in your German class, asshole, by the way, your pronunciation is shit.”

“You try going to eleven different schools and having a consistent education,” He muttered, checking to make sure his spare gun was properly loaded.

Heather held out her hand, “I’ll take the other one.”

He stared at her, open mouthed, and didn’t hand over the gun, “Heather, you know these are real, you know this could kill someone.”

She nodded, “I know. But the others aren’t strong enough. I am. Give me the gun, because if you die, someone needs to take care of Betty, Heather, and Heather. No offence, but I don’t trust your dad not to abandon us all if you go down.”

He handed her the gun, “Safety on, safety off, point, pull the trigger, hold your aim until the bullet hits the target.”

“I use to go hunting with my dad. I know what I’m doing.” She sounded so confident, and even though he knew it was an act, he was impressed. The Heathers were made of strong stuff.

“Hey, Heather! JD! Look what we found!” Heather McNamara had apparently uncovered the gym class supply closet and was brandishing a couple of croquet mallets. “Heather’s already red, do you want to be green?”

Heather Duke smiled wickedly and cocked the gun, “No thanks. I’ve got something better.”

With everyone armed, it was time to go. Heather Chandler stopped them before they faced the crowd. “I just want you all to know, that… well, that… I l-l-like you guys. You’re my friends.”

Heather McNamara smiled, “We love you too, Heather.”

“Speak for yourself,” JD muttered.

Betty hugged Chandler quickly, “I’m sorry we weren’t friends. If we survive this, I hope we can be.” JD was shocked to see Heather actually hugging her back. The world really was ending.

“Ugh, I really don’t want to get into clichéd confessions before we die heroically, but Heather, I want you to know that I’m sorry for all the times I wished you’d die and for being kinda glad when we all thought you were going to. I hope you don’t die now.”

Chandler squeezed Heather’s shoulder with the hand that wasn’t clutching a croquet mallet. “I would have wanted me dead too. I’m sorry for being such a bitch.”

“Can we leave now?” Bud asked, and though JD was glad to see some humanity from the Heathers, he was inclined to agree with his father. Veronica needed them to be doing their job.

“Everyone armed?” He scanned the crowd, stopping on Billy, who seemed to have acquired a baseball bat, which was less than professional, in JD’s opinion. Betty held nothing, which didn’t surprise him at all. “Betty, stay in the middle. Heather, Heather, either side of Betty. Heather and I will take the front, Dad, Billy, bring up the rear. As soon as we get out there, it’s going to get ugly. Try to stay together, but if not, remember that we’re heading to the auditorium. Any questions?” There were none, so he turned and kicked open the doors, pushing away the first two people who approached him.

From there it was complete and utter chaos. The Heathers had formed a sort of phalanx around Betty who was cowering. He looked in time to see Duke hit someone in the face with the butt of her gun, and McNamara landed a powerful kick to his stomach, sending him flying.

JD quickly lost sight of his dad in the dizzying press of the crowd of shadowed faces, but he could occasionally hear him grunt or curse when he landed a blow. Like JD, Bud primarily used his fists.

Billy was an enthusiastic participant in the fight. He used his short, heavy body as a battering ram to clear space for the girls to pass through, leaving them with fewer opponents.

The worst part of it all was the silence. None of the possessed people spoke, or even cried out when they were stuck as they pushed past them. An entire audience of people had been possessed, and not one of them spoke as they tried to fight a massively outnumbered group of semi-competent ghost hunters. It was eerie.

“Left!” Betty shouted, and they ducked down another hallway, towards the stage entrance. Not all of them made it.

Billy was seized from behind as he rounded the corner, and before anyone had time to do anything his neck was snapped. JD watched in horror as his body fell limply to the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

For one mad second, he considered running towards him, as if there was something he could do to help, but Bud pulled him back. Bud led the charge down the hall, and he was the one to herd them into a classroom to regroup.

It was a relief to be able to stop and think for a second. JD felt like his mind had been on autopilot ever since he’d kicked those doors open. Punches had been thrown instinctively and he’d kept moving, shoving through the crowd out of habit.

Betty and McNamara were both hyperventilating while Duke and Chandler tried ineffectively to calm them down.

“I’m sorry about your partner, Dad.” JD offered, not quite sure what to say. How do you respond to the death of someone you barely knew who had replaced you?

But shrugged, “He was a moron; he got himself killed. That’s why there are rules, Jason; so we don’t die making stupid mistakes.”

“Jesus Christ, Dad, a man is dead!”

His raised voice drew attention from the others and he raked his hand through his hair in a vain attempt to calm himself down. “Betty, how far are we from the auditorium?”

When Betty looked up at him her eyes were watery and she was still huddled up next to Chandler like a frightened animal. “Not too far, but I don’t know how long it’ll take…”

“You guys need to go the other way.” Everyone in the room except Bud jumped and turned towards the new voice. Rich had apparently decided to join their crazy campaign.

“What other way?” JD asked before anyone could interrupt with something off-topic.

Rich smiled, “Some of the classrooms share closets. Freshman year I hid in them to avoid… anyway you can use them to sneak into the room next door and avoid the crowd that’s waiting for you outside the door.”

“Thanks, Rich, you’re really saving our—“

“Who the fuck are you talking to?” JD had become so used to talking to people who could see ghosts that he’d forgotten Bud didn’t have the ability.

Everyone looked at JD to explain, “Rich died a few days ago because he was possessed. Since then, he’s been helping us as much as he can. He just told us there’s another way out.”

Bud nodded, accepting this odd turn of events. JD assumed Rich could figure out who Bud was without an explanation.

“We should go, Veronica’s probably in the auditorium by now. Is anyone hurt?” Everyone shook their heads, and JD ignored Duke's attempt to point out the bleeding cut on his jaw (he’d been punched by someone wearing a ring). He’d rather not waste time being taken care of.

The classroom door rattled ominously, the things outside wouldn’t be held off for long. They all slipped through the closet door, wound around some file cabinets, and made their way into the classroom next door. JD very carefully peeked out into the hallway. The crowd was gathered around the door for the room they had just vacated. None of them noticed him.

He closed the door silently and turned back towards the pale frightened faces of his friends, Rich’s ghostly form hovered awkwardly next to Bud, who seemed deeply out of his element. “The coast is clear, we should go now.”

“I don’t… I don’t know if I can.” Betty whispered.

JD sighed, “That’s fine, Betty. You can climb out the window and run home. No one would judge you for that.” Bud scoffed from his position in the corner and JD glared at him.

“No one _important_ would judge you for that.” Chandler specified, also glaring at Bud.

Betty wasn’t convinced. “But… Veronica?”

“Veronica can take care of herself, She’d want you to do the same.” JD doubted there was much Betty could do to protect her anyway. “Betty, we need to go. Are you coming with us, or are you going home? It’s up to you, but you need to choose now.”

Betty Finn stood up, wiped her eyes and nodded. “I’m coming. This is the right thing to do.”

Chandler smiled and gave Betty’s shoulder a quick squeeze, “I’m glad.”

“Rich, go see if what’s happening in the hallway before we leave.” The ghost departed and returned only moments later.

“They’re about to break down the door for the other classroom. You should go while they’re distracted. I’m going to find Jake.” With that, he disappeared into the spirit realm, leaving only living people in the room.

"Wait!” Chandler grabbed his shoulder, “Do you think she’d do it?”

JD wasn’t sure what she was talking about, and he hated to waste time. “What?”

“Veronica, ending the world if you die. Do you think she’d do it?” Heather’s blue eyes bored into his with uncharacteristic intensity.

He shook his head, “No, I mean… I’m not worth that.”

Chandler rolled her eyes, “Just imagine for one second that, to her, you are. Would she do it?”

JD was stuck trying to wrap his head around the idea that he was worth that much to anybody, but everyone seemed to be waiting for his answer. “I think she would think about it, but no, I don’t think she’d be able to go through with it.”

Heather nodded and picked up her croquet mallet. The others followed suit, raising their weapons and preparing to attack.

It was time.

They charged into the hallway for the second time, and ran down the hallway as fast as they could go. It took the crowd of possessed people a moment to realize what had happened, but they were in pursuit as soon as they had figured it out.

“It’s just around this next corner!” Betty called, and JD’s spirits lifted. They had almost made it.

Abruptly, all their pursuers stopped and turned around, as if some inaudible signal had called them away. JD watched them go and knew immediately what had happened.

“Veronica.” His eyes went wide and he fought back the onslaught of panic as he realized that a small army was about to attack his girlfriend.

He led the sprint down the hall, and they had almost made it to the door marked “auditorium west entrance” when he heard a small cry.

"Mr. Reyes!” It was Betty, dangling limply from the arms of a bearded man dressed in black, his face coated in the shadows of possession. “Mr. Reyes, it’s me, Betty Finn, I’m in your drama class. I was supposed to be in the play tonight. You know me. This isn’t you!” The possessed teacher tightened his grip, silencing her.

JD pushed past his father and the Heathers and drew his gun, ignoring Chandler’s panicked glance. He took quick, careful aim and fired.

Reyes’ arm jerked back and Betty acted quickly, elbowing him hard. He blow landed directly on his windpipe and the man fell to the floor, choking for a moment before he passed out.

Betty looked at him, pale and shocked. JD scratched his neck awkwardly, “Sorry I shot your drama teacher. Are you okay?”

She replied with a shaky nod, so they turned back to the door, dreading what they would see on the other side.

 

 

**Meanwhile**

           

Veronica didn’t look back as she walked away from the gym, carefully crafting a determined expression and forcing herself to forget about JD. _He’ll be fine_ she told herself over and over, the words echoing with each of her steps.

“Here, let me carry that.” Michael’s words startled her, but she reflexively handed him the potion bottle and he stored it in his backpack.

The back halls they wandered were eerily empty. There’s nothing quite as surreal as a school after hours; a place that’s supposed to be full of people and voices, brightly lit with fluorescent lights, suddenly empty and silent and darker than it should be. Veronica shivered, unable to ignore the evil she could feel here. All those possessed people stank of it, but under that was something even darker. Veronica could have followed that sense right to Jeremy, she was sure of it.

In fact, she hardly needed Michael and Jake’s directions as she walked, the instincts that had been passed to her by her grandmother and all the women of her family before her told Veronica exactly where she needed to be. She could completely tune out Jake’s frequent, anxious questions and Michael’s vague, incompetent answers.

“So… Demons are real? And people can be possessed?” Jake asked, a variation of the same question he’d been asking the whole time.

Though it was tempting to tell him to shut up— being overheard would ruin the whole thing— she took pity on him. “Not demons; ghosts or loose spirits. Basically, some ghosts were so terrible when they were alive that they’re afraid to move on when they die, so they stick around possessing people and fucking shit up.”

The sound of footsteps made her tense up and draw her knife, she stood still but prepared to run at the first sign of danger. Jake and Michael followed her lead; adopting silly poses with their fists raised that looked clumsy and comical. When the steps passed them without their ever seeing the person who made them, she finally relaxed. Stupid echoing high school hallways.

They boys were still in their ridiculous fighting stances. “Have either of you ever been in a real fight?” For a fraction of a second, she allowed herself to miss JD’s confidence and coordination when it came to physical fights. She stopped herself before she started to miss him for other reasons.

Jake shook his head, “I like pranks and stuff, beating people up isn’t funny, it’s just shitty.” Veronica held back a sigh. She’d gotten stuck fighting a war with a pacifist.

Michael’s face twisted into a hopeful half smile, “I play a lot of video games.”

Veronica didn’t dignify that with a response.

 

The door marked “Backstage” was an enormous relief. They had made it. Veronica took a deep breath and gathered her strength and her calm. She would need absolute control to pull this off.

What appeared to be the entire cast and crew of a high school play was gathered around Jeremy, whose face was so coated in dark, oily shadows that Veronica nearly didn’t recognize him. Michael gagged at the sight.

“This ends now!” Veronica shouted, and the crowd parted for her, fearing the power they could sense rolling off of her in waves. She felt it too. Never before had she pushed her limits like this. She was touching her true potential, her real power.

The Jeremy thing smiled at her, “You think you can stop what I’ve already begun?”

A girl Veronica recognized as Chloe stepped out of the crowd, “There’s nothing you can do.”

“You’re too late,” A boy Veronica didn’t recognize spoke next.

“Too late!” His words were echoed by three other students speaking in harmony.

“You’re controlling all of them?” Veronica asked, stunned and almost impressed. “How?”

Michael stood beside her and took in everything around them, “Jeremy…”

“I’m not Jeremy.” It corrected sharply, “I’ve existed for hundreds of years, gathering strength for this exact endeavor. I am more powerful than anything you have ever seen or heard of, children. I am _Armellius.”_

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Veronica twisted her knife between her fingers, putting on a false bored face as she looked over the scene backstage. Armellius was playing with them, he could kill them all in moments if he chose to, but he was having fun. She might as well play along.

Armellius smirked, an expression that looked wildly out of place on Jeremy’s awkward, angular face. “It will. In a few moments, I’m going to start the end of the world. Soon everyone will like _them_ and you will watch as the world burns and falls into hell.”

Veronica swallowed hard, and tried to hide her fear. If nothing else, she was good at that. “You control them all, right?” She made eye contact with Michael and Jake in turn, hoping they were following her “So you’re connected to them. If I hurt one of them, I hurt you too.” Michael had started moving slowly towards the person nearest him, and Jake followed his lead.

“You cannot hurt me, little girl. I am too strong for a silly little—“

Michael and Jake seized Brooke, who was standing closest to them, and Jake held her arms while Michael forced some of Heather’s potion down her throat.

She coughed and spluttered while Armellius screamed. Veronica beamed, triumphant. It worked.

“KILL THEM!” Armellius roared. The boys were forced to push the unconscious Brooke off to the side while they backed up into Veronica, facing the crowd. It was the three of them against at least thirty possessed students.

Veronica wasn’t a fan of those odds.

Armellius laughed and took a step back, allowing the crowd to stand between him and the furious Veronica. She was ready to destroy him, no matter what obstacles he invented.

Using the butt of her knife or its flat blade, she fought off attackers, kicking when she had to, punching if it was necessary. Michael splashed the potion in their faces when he could, letting it fall into their mouths and do its job by accident. Jake was the biggest, and Veronica caught him picking up a smaller kid and tossing him into the crowd to flatten a few others. It was the ugliest kind of fighting, but not the deadliest.

Veronica was starting to feel hopeful, they were making progress, she could almost see the top of Jeremy’s head over the crowd, but her optimism was destroyed when Armellius pulled the curtains open with a flourish.

“You see, little girl? You see why I cannot be defeated?” He opened his arms like a game show host revealing a prize.

Except the prize was an audience full of possessed people that wanted to kill her.

The same audience that JD, the Heathers, and Betty had been fighting.

“No.” JD would never have let them come here. Not in a million years. Not over his dead body.

His dead body.

It was over.

Armellius sent some wordless signal to his minions, and they parted like the Red Sea to allow him to walk forward and stand over whatever rune he’d drawn on the ground. “It was hopeless all along. Now stand back and watch the world end.”

“NO!” She screamed and felt her power rip out of her with a violence she had never witnessed before. It felt like being burned alive from the inside out. He entire soul ached and all she could think was that these things had killed JD and they deserved destruction. When she began to feel tired, she remembered Betty’s sweet smile, and another wave of strength came over her. Exhaustion brought her to her knees, but Heather Chandler’s fierceness, Duke’s resilience, and McNamara’s toughness brought her back to her feet for one final burst of power.

When she looked around, every possessed person except Armellius himself was collapsed on the ground. And Armellius looked scared.

He was right to be.

Fighting the part of her mind that screamed for rest and forcing her weak legs to approach the last spirit. Michael stood close behind her, as if to catch her before she fell over. Veronica shifted her knife to her left hand, and stretched out her other, ready for her final exorcism. “It’s over. And when I send you where you belong, to whatever terrible place you’ve feared for so long, I want you to remember me and the boy that had to die to get us here. Our love is God, and killing is what God does best.”

“Veronica!” JD’s voice stopped her just before she could bring her hand to Jeremy’s chest. His arrival with all of her— wonderfully still alive— friends distracted her for a single second, and the knife was wrenched from her hand.

Armellius held her knife, somehow still managing to look victorious with his whole army unconscious at his feet. “You’re going to kill me, but I won’t die alone!”

Veronica thrust her hand forward, stepping in so she could press her palm against his chest. The movement must have upset his aim, or perhaps he hadn’t been trying to kill her in the first place. The end result, however, was unmistakable. The knife slid past her and buried itself in Michael’s stomach.

She left her body behind so she could finally finish this fight.


	14. Saving Lives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank a lot of people for helping with this and motivating me when I needed it but it's three in the morning so I'm just hoping you all know how grateful I am and how much I love you. Enjoy!

JD stared in abject horror as everything unfolded on the stage. The images repeated in slow motion over and over again in his mind.

Michael got stabbed.

Veronica forced the spirit out of Jeremy.

All of them collapsed onto the stage, as if this were the end to some tragic play.

Under any other circumstance, his rush to the stage would have taken seconds, but there were unconscious bodies _everywhere_. He wasn’t sure how, but Veronica seemed to have freed them all. It was an incredible accomplishment, but he knew it meant she’d gone into the spirit world weak, and she was fighting her strongest opponent yet.

As much as he wanted to go to her, to hold Veronica and make sure she was alright, he had to prioritize Michael. The boy was spluttering, his hands on the knife embedded in the soft part of his torso.

“Don’t pull the knife out!” JD moved to stop him, but couldn’t get there in time. Michael incoherently tugged the knife out of his chest, and another rush of blood came from the wound.

Next to him, Heather Chandler stopped in her tracks, gagging. “Oh my God, that’s so much blood. Holy shit.”

“I need you to keep your head on straight, Heather,” JD knelt next to Michael, pressing his hands ineffectively against the wound. More blood bubbled up between his fingers. It was enough to make even him feel sick. Heather tugged the bag off of his shoulder and dug through it for her healing supplies.

“Jer?” Michael whispered, coughing slightly and craning his neck to look past Heather towards Jeremy.

JD panicked, unsure of what to say. “He’s fine, Michael. You did great. You should rest though, don’t try to talk.”

“Jeremy…” Michael stopped looking for his friend and went limp. JD took his hands away from the wound.

Heather did not give up searching the bag until JD gently stopped her hands with his, leaving ugly red bloodstains across her smooth, pale skin. “There’s nothing more you can do.”

Betty was sitting by Veronica, weeping. When she heard his words, she began to sob openly. Chandler wiped her hands on her skirt and moved closer so she could wrap Betty in a hug. Duke and McNamara shuffled onstage but didn’t approach Michael, they both looked pale and ill. JD knew how they felt.

Jake cried quietly and JD left him alone. Michael might not have been Jake’s friend, but he was the second kid in his grade to die in a week. He seemed so broken, and JD mourned the loss of the easygoing, confident guy he’d met at the mall what felt like a lifetime ago. That kid would probably never exist again.

Only Bud seemed unfazed by what had transpired, as he stepped nonchalantly over the sleeping people in the auditorium to join them on the stage. He looked over the carnage without emotion, JD had to look away before he took out his anger and grief on his father.

They all turned when Jeremy stirred. It was as if they’d all forgotten he wasn’t also dead. But he moved, stretching and rubbing his eyes, “Michael?”

Of course it would be the first word out of his mouth, and of course his best friend’s dead, bleeding body would be the first thing he saw.

Jeremy screamed as if it were his own body he was looking at. His face was deadly pale. For a moment, JD thought he would vomit, but he held it together. Eventually, Jeremy’s scream faltered into steady sobs, which grew quieter and quieter until he was silent as tears streamed down his face.

“This is all my fault.” JD barely heard Jeremy’s words, but they pierced him straight to his soul. JD had nearly killed Veronica when he was possessed, and it had haunted him ever since. Jeremy was living that nightmare.

Rich came in to hover next to Jake, and JD was glad for any excuse to look away from Jeremy. The ghost wasn’t able to offer any comfort, but he stayed by his friend’s side, showing a remarkable loyalty, even beyond the grave. They must have made an odd tableau; a ghost, several crying teenagers, Jeremy the very image of grief, and JD sitting confused in the center of it all, while Bud stood over them looking barely interested.

JD finally found the will to move away from Michael. He stood and went to Veronica, pulling her limp body into his arms, streaking her clothes dramatically with the blood on his hands. He tried to imagine her heartbeat and the gentle rise and fall of her chest that were currently eerily absent. He held her close, burying his face in her hair.

Heather Duke put a gentle hand on his shoulder, and while it was tempting to shake her off and be alone in his misery, he let her stay there. “JD, we did it. This sucks, but we did what we came here to do, we stopped him.”

Somehow, knowing that they’d saved the world didn’t make him feel like less of a failure.

Veronica stirred slightly in his arms, he’d been so caught up in his sadness that he hadn’t noticed when she’d started breathing. Her beautiful dark eyes blinked up at him, and she almost smiled, before her face fell. “Michael?”

He shook his head. She understood, and he watched her eyes fill with tears. JD hugged Veronica close, she was shaking and weak after her fight in the spirit realm, but she pulled away to look at Jeremy.

He looked like he would never be okay again. His face was pale and streaked with tears, his eyes were bloodshot, and his body looked thin and weak. He was a wreck.

JD rubbed Veronica’s back gently, “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but—“

“You know what I want, JD?” Veronica’s eyes bored into him, and he got the feeling she was seeing past him, into his soul. “I want no more death. I want everyone to survive this. And I’m going to make it happen.”

For a moment, JD couldn’t find the words to ask her what the hell she was talking about. She took the opportunity to pull out of his arms and stumble her way over to Michael’s body. “Heather! Heal him.” Jeremy’s eyes went wide, and JD watched as hope battled against despair on his face.

Heather Chandler looked as baffled as JD felt, “Veronica, it’s too late…”

“I don’t want your opinion Heather, I want you to fix this body by the time I get back. Put him back together.”

Chandler tried to splutter out a reply, but it didn’t come. In the meantime, JD finally found his voice. “Where are you going?”

Though she looked cripplingly tired, Veronica’s eyes burned with an almost manic intensity. “I’m going to bring him back.”

 

There was a split second of shocked silence after she said that and promptly fell to the ground, seemingly dead. JD checked her pulse quickly to make sure she hadn’t just briefly gone mad and fainted, but it seemed she had reentered the otherworld.

He turned to Chandler. “Well, do what she said, I guess.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll just start filling in this giant hole in his torso, he might end up without a stomach but otherwise, he’s good as new. For fuck’s sake, JD! Do you think this is easy?” Chandler was terrifying when she was angry, but JD had about used up his emotional capacity for the day, so he was entirely nonplussed.

“Do as she said.”

Heather snarled at him, but she left Betty’s side and pushed Jeremy out of the way so she could go back to digging through JD’s bag for supplies. Without looking up, she snapped, “Get over here and help me, asshole.”

“Me? What the hell do you want me to do?”

“I want you to stop pretending you’re one of the normal ones in our merry band of morons and help me!” Heather pulled some plants out of the bag, then glanced at Michael’s wound and threw them down. “This goes beyond plants, a handful of fucking leaves is not going to help this!”

She’d said so much that confused him he had to start with the easiest parts first. “Heather, calm down. You know you don’t need the plants; they’re just an aid. Energy and intent.” Now for the more difficult part, “What do you mean, I’m not normal?”

Heather actually paused her frantic assessment of the body so that she could roll her eyes at him. “You have power. Not as much as me, and _certainly_ not as much as Veronica, but it’s not nothing. I felt it at the fire the other night, when we made that potion. Maybe you got more from your mom than you thought?”

JD glanced quickly at his dad, but saw that Bud was watching him with a dangerous look in his eyes. JD thought better of asking Bud what he thought of that. Instead, he gritted his teeth and nodded, sparing a quick glance at Veronica’s limp form. “Tell me what you need me to do.”

After a long breath, JD watched as Heather became the witch he’d seen in the clearing. Whether it was a false front or not, JD couldn’t have said, but it was effective. She narrowed her eyes at him, “You already said what we need; energy and intent. We just have to make sure we don’t forget any parts. Do your best and I’ll do mine.”

Heather put her hands against Michael’s wound and JD placed his on top of hers, trying to ignore the feel of blood between his fingers. Heather’s eyes were closed in concentration, and JD followed suit. “Picture something powerful, a memory of healing, anything.” Heather hissed. They were both keenly aware of Jeremy’s eyes boring into them as they worked.

JD formed the memory slowly; pulling pieces of it from the many places he hid thoughts of his mother. He had fallen through the stairs at one of his dad’s sites. His mom had found him, bleeding and terrified shortly after. She healed him before anyone even saw the enormous gash on his leg.

He found strength in the memory and pushed that into the wound. _Heal; bind together. Strength._ Something like a spark shot up his arm, and he became suddenly more aware of Heather’s hands under his, her power— a dull, red warmth— pulling at his and focusing it. And he felt as it began to _work_. He couldn’t have found the words to describe what it felt like to be so connected to Heather in that moment. Veronica had mentioned that she’d grabbed Jeremy’s hand and felt his soul. JD understood that now; he was feeling Heather’s as they worked together to accomplish this enormous, impossible task. Smooth skin replaced what had been a ragged hole, and JD felt all the damage that the knife had done correct itself as they worked.

A blinding white, burning light was added to the mix, neither his nor Heather’s, and yet somehow impossibly familiar. _Veronica._

He removed his hands, breaking the connection with Heather so he could return to Veronica’s side. His back was turned when Michael choked, spluttered, and started to scream.

“Hey! It’s okay! Michael! It’s me!”

JD knelt with Veronica limp in his arms, watching Jeremy and Michael reunite. Jeremy was barely coherent he was crying so hard, and he seemed nervous to touch his friend, as though Michael would dissolve into smoke if he did. Michael made the first move, grabbing Jeremy and pulling him into a tight hug.

Bud sidled up next to JD, “Did your girlfriend just resurrect someone?”

“Yeah, I think so.” JD was still trying to process this. Hearing it aloud didn’t help very much.

“That’s not— uh, that’s not something you find every day. Don’t let her get away.”

JD nodded, still looking at the boy that rose from the dead. “Wasn’t planning on it.” Bud wandered off to god knows where, somehow managing not to care about everything he’d just seen. JD didn’t even bother to watch him leave.

            The girl in question murmured something and cuddled closer to him. JD had to fight back tears of relief, “You’re okay, everything’s fine now, darling. You did it.”

Betty had attempted to calm Jeremy and Michael but seemed to give up in favor of checking on her oldest friend. “How is she?”

“Just five more minutes,” Veronica replied, curling one hand around the lapel of JD’s coat. He kissed the top of her head to hide his smile.

Though she raised her eyebrows at Veronica’s apparent familiarity with waking up next to him, Betty didn’t comment on it. “I’m glad she’s alright.” JD nodded and watched her walk away to join Duke and McNamara who appeared to be animatedly discussing recent events.

JD watched Jake take Chandler’s place at Michael’s side as she came to sit next to him, “How’s she doing?”

"Just asleep.”

“Well, she did just break all the laws of nature. That would tire someone out.” JD laughed at Heather’s blasé attitude. It seemed they were all a bit too tired to care.

Around them, people were finally beginning to wake up, muttering in confusion as they realized they were no longer in their seats, preparing for a school play.

Some voices started to rise above the others, panicked and questioning. All of JD’s earlier concerns about covering this up came crashing down around him as he realized there was no rational way to explain this.

He looked at Chandler, “How in the hell are we going to get away with this?” But she looked just as baffled as he felt. She’d been the orchestrator of the cover-up that had allowed him to get away with the bombs on the football field. If she had nothing, they were stuck.

A miracle came in the form of Heather Duke. “I have an insane plan.”

           

It surprised him to find out exactly how dangerous theatre could be as a hobby; he’d never considered the vast number of extremely flammable things that were kept backstage, or how sensitive electrical equipment could be. Now, as he was fleeing the building with Veronica in his arms—having checked to make sure all the formerly possessed audience members were gone— he was glad Duke knew a thing or two about raising hell.

 

It was cold outside, and the burning school lit the sky eerily. JD stood a little separate from the girls, who were all fussing over Veronica, now that he’d relinquished his hold. Michael and Jeremy were talking to each other, heads bent close, and JD wouldn’t have interrupted them for anything.

Bud arrived, standing wordlessly next to JD as if he hadn’t disappeared for the entire process of burning down the school. He lit a cigarette before offering one to JD, who accepted despite having quit months ago. After the night he’d had, he felt he’d earned it.

“So, you’re leaving.” JD knew what conversation was coming, but that didn’t make him any more prepared for it.

 Bud exhaled, sending a large cloud of smoke into the night air. “Yeah. There’s another job not far from here. Some town called Hawkins has some weird shit going on. You could come with. Hell, the girl’s pretty useful, we could bring her along.”

JD swallowed the bile that rose in his throat at the idea of brining Veronica with Bud on a hunt. “No, Dad. I’m not going.”

His father seized his arm far harder than necessary, jerking him closer. “You didn’t think about that for very long, Jason.”

JD blew out some smoke, trying to ignore the hand on his arm and his racing heartbeat. “Didn’t have to. This is my life now.” He kept his eyes on the crowd of girls kneeling around Veronica. _They_ were his life now; and damn it if it wasn’t a life worth fighting to keep.

After a very long, very tense moment, Bud released his arm and nodded, “You know how to get in touch, if you need me.”

JD doubted he would ever need Bud, and he doubted that his father would pick up the phone if he called, but he accepted the offered handshake. “I hope you find a decent partner.”

Bud walked away and disappeared into the darkness and the clouds of smoke from the burning school.

  Several loud shrieks alerted him to the fact that Veronica had woken up. All he wanted was to run over and make sure she was fine, to see her eyes and her smile so he could finally be certain that everyone he cared about had come out okay. But the Heathers surrounded her and Betty was hugging her enthusiastically, and he hung back shyly. Over Betty’s shoulder, Veronica gave him a small smile as if to say _I understand. We can talk later._ He nodded and stayed where he was.

He noticed Jake, also standing apart from everyone, and considered going to talk to him, but held back. There wasn’t much he could say to fix the fact that no one else was coming back from the dead; Rich had died in a fire not unlike the one they were all watching right now.

Speaking of, the ghost appeared, hovering awkwardly next to JD, watching everyone. “I guess I should probably… move on now, shouldn’t I?”

JD considered it. Rich _should_ move on, but maybe there could be a little closure before he did. “First, come with me.”

He led Rich over to Jake while carefully removing the spirit glass from around his neck. Jake watched him suspiciously, clearly not in the mood for company. JD ignored it, holding out the spirit glass. “Put this around your neck and try to think about opening your mind. You’ve seen lots of weird stuff, this is just a little more of that.”

Jake nodded silently and put the cord around his neck, holding on to the glass disk that hung from it. He closed his eyes, screwing his face up in concentration. When he opened his eyes, he stared at Rich in shock. “He’s moving on,” JD cautioned, “Now that this is over he’s leaving our world, but I thought you might want a chance to say goodbye.” He left the two of them alone, planning to get the spirit glass back another time.

Again, he was alone surrounded by people as friends reunited and tried to figure out what had happened. The fire department could be overheard talking about an electrical problem with one of the lights that had set the curtains ablaze, but no one had an explanation for what had happened before that. JD hoped they never got one.

“So, JD,” He turned sharply when he heard Veronica’s voice and saw her smirking up at him. “You, me, massive property damage to a high school; must it always end this way?”

He laughed and pulled her close with an arm around her shoulders. Veronica seemed grateful for the support. “You were incredible,” He whispered, pressing a kiss into her hair.

“I thought you’d died. I was so sad and angry… I don’t even know what happened. After that, I just decided no one should die. Not tonight anyway. So I went and got Michael before it was too late. Honestly, I can’t believe it worked.” He could tell she was still weak after what she’d done, but she was standing and seemed like she’d be fine after some rest.

“I never doubted you.” He leaned down and kissed her finally accepting that everything really was going to be okay. “So, I was thinking. Now that this is all over, we’ve earned a little break. Maybe, if you want, we could rent some videos, pop some popcorn, close the window and be normal for a little bit?”

Veronica beamed up at him, “You know, my parents aren’t going to be home for a few days…” He liked the sound of that, and was about to tell her so before he was rudely interrupted by Heather Duke.

“Let’s get out of here! We’re all starving!” She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the car, not noticing that Veronica nearly fell over when she no longer had him there for support.

Betty saved her, linking their arms together as she called to Jeremy and Michael, “Come with us! We’re getting food.” The boys awkwardly shuffled over, hesitant smiles on their faces.

Jake ran up to JD and pressed the spirit glass into his hand, “Thank you.” He vanished into the crowd before JD could invite him to join them. Looking around, JD couldn’t see Rich anywhere, and he knew that he was gone for real.

They wandered away from the crowd, and JD split away from Heather Duke so he could talk to Jeremy, who still looked shaken and pale. “I’ve been where you are right now, do you want some advice?”

“ _You’ve_ been possessed?” Jeremy asked. JD nodded. “And you’re okay? How do you… deal with it? With knowing what you did?”

JD took a long breath. “You didn’t do it. That thing did. But that can be hard to believe sometimes. What you have to do is find someone who doesn’t blame you for what you did, and listen to them when the voices in your head get too loud.” He looked at Veronica; she’d saved him. Chandler had too, in her way. He hoped Betty and Michael could do that for Jeremy.

“Okay, everyone!” Chandler shouted, taking charge now that they were a decent ways from the crowd of people and firefighters. “Where are we going?”

JD took in their ragtag group. All the Heathers had bruises or scratch marks from the fighting, Jeremy, Betty, and Veronica were all dirty and pale, JD was pretty sure his face was still bleeding from where he’d been punched, and Michael had a gaping, bloody hole in his sweatshirt.

Veronica seemed to be thinking the same thing he was. “There’s really only one place that won’t ask any questions if we show up looking like this.”

So the eight of them squeezed into a single booth at Waffle House and devoured their weight in breakfast food. JD had one arm around Veronica, who’d had a cup of coffee that improved her mood considerably. They filled Jeremy in on everything he’d missed, and told everyone who hadn’t been there about what happened at Westerburg.

They spent three hours there, being kids and telling each other ghost stories.

 


	15. The End?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love everyone who read this so much, thank you. Be on the lookout for the next installment to this series, which should be out sometime in the next month! Enjoy!

A week later, Veronica and JD were late for school. Since her parents were out of town, they’d been living at her house together and occasionally mornings got off to a slower start than they should. Thankfully they had JD’s motorcycle and a healthy disrespect for traffic laws.

“Thank god you’re here,” Heather Duke greeted them when they made it to Veronica’s locker. “Heather is freaking out about her math test.”

 Heather McNamara did appear to be breaking down a little bit, and Veronica was about to try to comfort her, but was surprised when JD spoke instead. “ Heather, you survived the apocalypse, you’ll do fine with calculus. We went over this yesterday, you know what you’re doing.”

Heather nodded and took a deep breath, “But what if I forget?”

"Then just remind yourself that nothing matters!” Heather Duke said cheerily, to the concern of everyone present. She rolled her eyes, “Oh, relax I’m not going crazy, I just realized that grades and school and pretty much everything I used to worry about isn’t important. It’s very freeing.”

Veronica attempted a smile and patted Heather on the shoulder, “I’m… proud of you, I guess?” And she was, Heather Duke had always cared so much about what everyone (especially Chandler) thought of her, that she’d found some freedom at last was a relief.

Smiling, Duke skipped away, calling behind her that she’d see them at lunch. Realizing it was time for them all to go to their fates, they all left for class.

 

Lunch was unusual with Chandler absent due to her ‘secret project’ that they were all going to see the results of that afternoon. As usual, the rest of the student body left them alone and things were peaceful at Westerburg.

“So Veronica, when do your parents get home?” Duke asked, glancing up from her homework. They were all trying to catch up on assignments they’d neglected while saving the world.

Veronica sighed, “Tonight.”

“Yep,” JD added, “It’s back to Heather’s shed for me.”

Both Heathers looked up from their work to stare at him. “What?” Duke asked flatly.

Veronica and JD exchanged a look, as Veronica realized they’d never actually mentioned the fact that JD was technically homeless. They’d said that Bud had left him, but somehow his actual living situation had never come up.

“I, um… live in Heather’s shed?” JD admitted sheepishly.

Heather Duke rolled her eyes, “No, you don’t. You’re moving in with me.” She went back to her Spanish vocabulary as though the discussion were closed. Veronica held in a laugh at JD’s flabbergasted expression.

Rolling her eyes and setting her notes aside with no small amount of irritation, Heather explained, “My parents are never home; my dad travels for work and my mom goes with him. I’m usually home alone for six days a week. I would bet a lot of money that my parents won’t even notice that you’re living in our house, and if they did, I doubt they’d care. So you’re living with me now.”

JD looked at Veronica, and she shrugged at him; Heather did live alone most of the time, and her house was a lot nicer than the Chandler’s shed.

"Okay then, I guess.” JD agreed, and Heather resumed studying with a satisfied air.

 

That afternoon, they convened at Heather Chandler’s house so she could reveal the results of her project. Veronica and Heather McNamara were cross-legged on the bed, Heather Duke was sitting at Chandler’s desk, and JD was sprawled across the floor next to Veronica. She had one hand absently playing with his hair while they waited for Heather to make her big announcement.

Finally, she stepped out of her large closet, closing the door behind her so she could stand in front of it. “Ladies and JD, after hours and hours of _hard_ work, I would like to introduce you to the new Miss Finn!”

Heather stepped aside and pulled the door open with a flourish, revealing Betty Finn in a short plaid skirt and a pretty, pale pink blouse. Her hair was curled, and it had been styled so that her glasses no longer overwhelmed her face. The biggest improvement, however, was Betty’s broad smile and confident posture.

But she was still obviously Betty, “I heard that, Heather! It wasn’t _that_ hard.” Her smile was now directed at Chandler, and Veronica was shocked to see _Heather_ duck her head and look away.

Ignoring Heather’s unusual behavior, Veronica stood up to give her friend a hug. “You look awesome! There’s no way Jeremy doesn’t ask you out with you looking like this.”

Betty’s smile dimmed slightly, “Actually, he already asked me… I said no.”

Everyone went quiet at that, and JD muttered (very audibly) to Duke, “Didn’t we save his life so he could ask her out?”

Veronica sent him a glare, but Betty explained before she could tell him off. “I like Jeremy, he’s nice, but I just don’t think we have that much in common. And, to be honest, it worries me a little bit that he would summon a ghost to make himself popular.”

“To be fair to him,” JD mused, “I doubt he would do that _again_.”

Betty stuck her tongue out at him, and Veronica was glad to see that Betty had put aside her animosity towards JD. She wanted them to get along. “And anyway,” Betty continued, “I’m not really thinking about boys as much as I used to, maybe it’s a side effect of saving the world.”

Amid everyone’s laughter, Veronica almost missed the quick, secretive smile that passed between Betty and Heather. Veronica was happy that they seemed to have grown closer during their day together; Betty would be good for Heather.

           

They settled in and started talking, mostly rehashing everything they’d done in Indiana.

“It’s just so unfair!” McNamara moaned, “We saved the whole world from becoming a hell on earth or something, and we can’t even tell anyone.”

 JD shrugged, “That’s just the way of things. If we tried to tell someone they’d just call us crazy and lock us up.”

McNamara didn’t seem satisfied, “JD, half the town still thinks you’re crazy because you beat up Kurt and Ram,” She stumbled slightly over their names, but continued bravely; Veronica could feel the quiet pride of everyone in the room.

Untroubled as always by his criminal history, JD shrugged again. “As long as no one ever suspects what _else_ I did to them, I don’t care what they say.”

 “Speaking of getting away with crimes,” Duke butted in, “Did you guys just frame Matt for what JD did while he was possessed? Are you really going to let him go to prison for you?”

Veronica shuddered and leaned a little closer to JD, remembering everything they’d found out about the boy who the police were charging with the football field explosion. “It’s better for everyone if he goes to prison. Heather told the police about one of the weird things he’d said for a lunchtime poll; something about wanting to blow up a lion or something. They took him in for questioning and went through his room.” She looked at JD, and he took over the story.

“Veronica sent a ghost into the police station to tell us about the investigation; they found this journal in his room, it had these drawings and stories…” He looked around at all of them, making eye contact with everyone in turn. “Matt didn’t try to blow up the gym that day, but he wanted to do it someday, or if not bombs, he wanted to hurt people in other ways. Heather…” He looked at Duke, but Veronica noticed he couldn’t meet her eyes, “He talked about you specifically, something about kidnapping you… If anyone deserves to be framed for massive property damage, it’s Matt.”

Chandler nodded, “I know you guys don’t want another secret to keep, but this is important. There isn’t a lot of evidence that Matt actually did it, aside from the journal saying he wanted to. So, any rumor of what really happened could ruin the case and he’d be back at Westerburg. You can’t breathe a word of this to anyone.”

 Veronica was surprised by how quickly everyone promised not to tell. She really needed to stop doubting her friends, especially after everything they’d been through.   

After that, they fell back into old patterns and more lighthearted conversation. Veronica leaned into JD, happy to let it all just wash over it. The last week had been wonderfully restful, but Veronica wasn’t sure she’d totally recovered yet.

“So…” Duke began, and the confusion in her voice was enough to pull Veronica out of her thoughts, “What do we do now?”

They were silent for a long time, the weight of their futures settling onto their shoulders. Veronica was thankful when Chandler broke the silence with her usual brusque confidence, “We graduate high school. First, we get through Westerburg, then we can figure everything else out.”

“But what about the ghosts and stuff?” Heather McNamara asked.

“Yeah, you said Sherwood isn’t protected anymore, evil ghosts and stuff can get in here.” Duke brought up a good point, and one Veronica had worried about.

Chandler smiled, her expression somehow both sad and determined. “I’m going to stay. Even after high school. I’ll go to Remington and find a job in town so I can use my powers to protect people, and Veronica can do what she’s always wanted to do.”

“What do you mean?” Veronica asked, but she already knew the answer, though she didn’t know how Heather could have figured it out.

Chandler sighed, “Leave, Veronica. You’ve always wanted to leave, and if I stay here to protect the town, you can go to whatever fancy college you want to and become rich and famous or whatever.”

“Thanks, Heather, but I’m not going to college.”

Every jaw in the circle dropped, but Betty was the first person to actually articulate her shock into words. “But, Veronica… You’ve always wanted to go to college. You’ve been dreaming about it since first grade. You can’t just… not go.”

“Yes, I can.” Veronica had made up her mind days ago, but it felt good to finally say it. “I don’t want to study; I want to help people and fight ghosts. So I’m not going to college. Instead, I’m going to travel around and help people who are possessed or haunted.”

The others nodded and murmured agreements. Only JD was silent, his face furrowed into a frown that Veronica couldn’t decipher.

Betty smiled at them all, “I’ll keep an eye on Middleborough for now, as long as you all promise to visit sometimes.”

“We will, don’t worry!” Chandler answered quickly.

JD nodded, “Yeah, we should check on Jeremy and Michael, it’s polite.”

“You are responsible for the things you save, after all,” Veronica teased, making them all laugh and breaking the tension leftover from talking about the future. For now, they wouldn’t worry about it.

“I have an idea!” JD blurted suddenly, “We should all travel this summer. We’ll drive across the whole country and visit haunted houses, just to see if they’re real.”

“My dad has a camper we never use!” McNamara added eagerly. “We could use that.”

Veronica was happy to join in on their musings. “We’ll park it in the middle of nowhere and sleep under the stars.”

“We can make s’mores at night and fight ghosts and save people during the day.” Duke’s broad smile was adorable, and Veronica was glad everyone was getting in on this crazy plan.

Even Chandler seemed to like it, and Veronica knew there were few things Heather hated as much as shoddy living conditions. “It’ll be our last chance to be stupid teenagers together, I say we do it.” With Chandler’s endorsement, it was agreed, and elaborate plans were made for the rest of the afternoon.

When it was time to go home, JD offered to drop her off, a ploy for a little more alone time before her parents got home. Veronica didn’t mind; she was going to miss living with him and she was savoring a couple minutes holding onto him while he drove through the streets of Sherwood.

He parked the bike in front of her house, but didn’t stand up to walk her to the door. “Veronica, you don’t have to do that you know. I don’t want you to give up on college and everything you want for me.”

Veronica stared at him, baffled. “What the fuck makes you think I’m doing anything for you” JD, I want use my abilities, and I can’t do that locked up in a classroom. So, I’m going to travel America hunting ghosts.” She let a slow smile spread across her face, “If you want, you can come with me.”

“Are you sure? Veronica… I’ve lived this life a long time. It’s hard, and sometimes you can’t save everyone. It might not be everything you want it to be.” JD reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, his eyes were sad and haunted by memories she could never understand or wash away.

Veronica grabbed his hand and held it to her lips, kissing it softly, “I know. But I have to try. I have power that I’ve barely touched, I can’t just ignore it anymore. I want… I _need_ to understand it, to use it.”

“Okay. Would you mind… Well, I don’t have a lot going for me. I wouldn’t get into college and I don’t know what I would study if I did, so would you mind if I came with you? I think I have some power to figure out too, and even if I don’t, you might need dumb muscle every now and then.”

Veronica leaned in to kiss him, “Muscle, maybe, but never dumb. And yeah, I would love to have you with me.”

They kissed in the moonlight, leaning against his motorcycle. Veronica pulled away first, but stayed close enough to press her forehead against his. She wanted to say something, find some way to neatly wrap up everything that they’d been through in the month they’d been together, but some things can’t be tied up neatly in a bow. Their lives were damaged, messy and flawed, and that wasn’t likely to change any time soon. But they weren’t alone, and together, they could face armies, battle evil, conquer worlds.

“Our love is God.”


End file.
